Detections
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RHEL 5 : kernel (RHSA-2012:0721)
high Nessus Plugin ID 59467
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Synopsis
The remote Red Hat host is missing one or more security updates for kernel.Description
The remote Redhat Enterprise Linux 5 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the RHSA-2012:0721 advisory.The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.
This update fixes the following security issues:
* It was found that the Xen hypervisor implementation as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 did not properly restrict the syscall return addresses in the sysret return path to canonical addresses. An unprivileged user in a 64-bit para-virtualized guest, that is running on a 64-bit host that has an Intel CPU, could use this flaw to crash the host or, potentially, escalate their privileges, allowing them to execute arbitrary code at the hypervisor level. (CVE-2012-0217, Important)
* It was found that guests could trigger a bug in earlier AMD CPUs, leading to a CPU hard lockup, when running on the Xen hypervisor implementation. An unprivileged user in a 64-bit para-virtualized guest could use this flaw to crash the host. Warning: After installing this update, hosts that are using an affected AMD CPU (refer to Red Hat Bugzilla bug #824966 for a list) will fail to boot. In order to boot such hosts, the new kernel parameter, allow_unsafe, can be used (allow_unsafe=on). This option should only be used with hosts that are running trusted guests, as setting it to on reintroduces the flaw (allowing guests to crash the host). (CVE-2012-2934, Moderate)
Note: For Red Hat Enterprise Linux guests, only privileged guest users can exploit the CVE-2012-0217 and CVE-2012-2934 issues.
Red Hat would like to thank the Xen project for reporting these issues.
Upstream acknowledges Rafal Wojtczuk as the original reporter of CVE-2012-0217.
Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.
Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 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 RHEL kernel package based on the guidance in RHSA-2012:0721.See Also
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012:0721
https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=813428
Plugin Details
Severity: High
ID: 59467
File Name: redhat-RHSA-2012-0721.nasl
Version: 1.30
Type: Local
Agent: unix
Family: Red Hat Local Security Checks
Published: 6/13/2012
Updated: 3/20/2025
Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Nessus
Risk Information
VPR
Risk Factor: High
Score: 8.8
Vendor
Vendor Severity: Important
CVSS v2
Risk Factor: High
Base Score: 7.2
Temporal Score: 6.3
Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
CVSS Score Source: CVE-2012-0217
CVSS v3
Risk Factor: High
Base Score: 7.8
Temporal Score: 7.5
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:H/RL:O/RC:C
Vulnerability Information
CPE: p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:5, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-xen-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-kdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-kdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-xen, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-pae-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-pae
Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/RedHat/release, Host/RedHat/rpm-list, Host/cpu
Exploit Available: true
Exploit Ease: Exploits are available
Patch Publication Date: 6/12/2012
Exploitable With
CANVAS (CANVAS)
Core Impact
Metasploit (FreeBSD Intel SYSRET Privilege Escalation)
Reference Information
CVE: CVE-2012-0217, CVE-2012-2934
BID: 53961
RHSA: 2012:0721