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Ubuntu 16.04 LTS : Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities (USN-3740-2)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 111750

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Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 16.04 LTS host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-3740-2 advisory.

 USN-3740-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

 It was discovered that memory present in the L1 data cache of an Intel CPU core may be exposed to a malicious process that is executing on the CPU core. This vulnerability is also known as L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF). A local attacker in a guest virtual machine could use this to expose sensitive information (memory from other guests or the host OS). (CVE-2018-3646)

 It was discovered that memory present in the L1 data cache of an Intel CPU core may be exposed to a malicious process that is executing on the CPU core. This vulnerability is also known as L1 Terminal Fault (L1TF). A local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (memory from the kernel or other processes). (CVE-2018-3620)

 Juha-Matti Tilli discovered that the IP implementation in the Linux kernel performed algorithmically expensive operations in some situations when handling incoming packet fragments. A remote attacker could use this to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2018-5391)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected kernel package.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-3740-2

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 111750

File Name: ubuntu_USN-3740-2.nasl

Version: 1.16

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 8/15/2018

Updated: 3/26/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.2

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.7

Temporal Score: 3.5

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-3646

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.6

Temporal Score: 4.9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.15.0-32-generic-lpae, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.15.0-32-lowlatency, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.15.0-32-generic, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.15.0-1021-azure, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.15.0-1017-gcp

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Debian/dpkg-l, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 8/14/2018

Vulnerability Publication Date: 8/14/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2018-3620, CVE-2018-3646, CVE-2018-5391

USN: 3740-2