Scientific Linux Security Update : kernel on SL5.x i386/x86_64 (20140424)

high Nessus Plugin ID 73706

Synopsis

The remote Scientific Linux host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

- A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's TCP/IP protocol suite implementation handled TCP packets with both the SYN and FIN flags set. A remote attacker could use this flaw to consume an excessive amount of resources on the target system, potentially resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2012-6638, Moderate)

- A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel handled HID (Human Interface Device) reports with an out-of-bounds Report ID. An attacker with physical access to the system could use this flaw to crash the system or, potentially, escalate their privileges on the system.
(CVE-2013-2888, Moderate)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

- A previous change to the sunrpc code introduced a race condition between the rpc_wake_up_task() and rpc_wake_up_status() functions. A race between threads operating on these functions could result in a deadlock situation, subsequently triggering a 'soft lockup' event and rendering the system unresponsive. This problem has been fixed by re-ordering tasks in the RPC wait queue.

- Running a process in the background on a GFS2 file system could sometimes trigger a glock recursion error that resulted in a kernel panic. This happened when a readpage operation attempted to take a glock that had already been held by another function. To prevent this error, GFS2 now verifies whether the glock is already held when performing the readpage operation.

- A previous patch backport to the IUCV (Inter User Communication Vehicle) code was incomplete.
Consequently, when establishing an IUCV connection, the kernel could, under certain circumstances, dereference a NULL pointer, resulting in a kernel panic. A patch has been applied to correct this problem by calling the proper function when removing IUCV paths.

In addition, this update adds the following enhancement :

- The lpfc driver had a fixed timeout of 60 seconds for SCSI task management commands. With this update, the lpfc driver enables the user to set this timeout within the range from 5 to 180 seconds. The timeout can be changed by modifying the 'lpfc_task_mgmt_tmo' parameter for the lpfc driver.

The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?374bba4e

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 73706

File Name: sl_20140424_kernel_on_SL5_x.nasl

Version: 1.5

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 4/25/2014

Updated: 1/14/2021

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.9

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-pae, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-pae-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-pae-devel, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-debug-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-debuginfo-common, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-xen, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-xen-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:fermilab:scientific_linux:kernel-xen-devel, x-cpe:/o:fermilab:scientific_linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, Host/RedHat/release, Host/RedHat/rpm-list

Patch Publication Date: 4/24/2014

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/16/2013

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2012-6638, CVE-2013-2888