Ubuntu 18.04 LTS : Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities (USN-3903-2)

high Nessus Plugin ID 122669

Synopsis

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

Description

The remote Ubuntu 18.04 LTS host has a package installed that is affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-3903-2 advisory.

- A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's handle_rx() function in the [vhost_net] driver. A malicious virtual guest, under specific conditions, can trigger an out-of-bounds write in a kmalloc-8 slab on a virtual host which may lead to a kernel memory corruption and a system panic. Due to the nature of the flaw, privilege escalation cannot be fully ruled out. Versions from v4.16 and newer are vulnerable. (CVE-2018-16880)

- The userfaultfd implementation in the Linux kernel before 4.19.7 mishandles access control for certain UFFDIO_ ioctl calls, as demonstrated by allowing local users to write data into holes in a tmpfs file (if the user has read-only access to that file, and that file contains holes), related to fs/userfaultfd.c and mm/userfaultfd.c. (CVE-2018-18397)

- In PolicyKit (aka polkit) 0.115, the start time protection mechanism can be bypassed because fork() is not atomic, and therefore authorization decisions are improperly cached. This is related to lack of uid checking in polkitbackend/polkitbackendinteractiveauthority.c. (CVE-2019-6133)

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-3903-2

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 122669

File Name: ubuntu_USN-3903-2.nasl

Version: 1.8

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 3/7/2019

Updated: 1/9/2024

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.9

Temporal Score: 5.4

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-16880

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7

Temporal Score: 6.3

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.18.0-1013-azure, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.18.0-16-generic, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.18.0-16-generic-lpae, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.18.0-16-lowlatency, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-4.18.0-16-snapdragon, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts

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

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/6/2019

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/12/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2018-16880, CVE-2018-18397, CVE-2019-6133

USN: 3903-2