Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues :

* the ADDR_COMPAT_LAYOUT and MMAP_PAGE_ZERO flags were not cleared when a setuid or setgid program was executed. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to bypass the mmap_min_addr protection mechanism and perform a NULL pointer dereference attack, or bypass the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature.
(CVE-2009-1895, Important)

* it was discovered that, when executing a new process, the clear_child_tid pointer in the Linux kernel is not cleared. If this pointer points to a writable portion of the memory of the new program, the kernel could corrupt four bytes of memory, possibly leading to a local denial of service or privilege escalation. (CVE-2009-2848, Important)

* Solar Designer reported a missing capability check in the z90crypt driver in the Linux kernel. This missing check could allow a local user with an effective user ID (euid) of 0 to bypass intended capability restrictions. (CVE-2009-1883, Moderate)

* a flaw was found in the way the do_sigaltstack() function in the Linux kernel copies the stack_t structure to user-space. On 64-bit machines, this flaw could lead to a four-byte information leak.
(CVE-2009-2847, Moderate)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

* the gcc flag '-fno-delete-null-pointer-checks' was added to the kernel build options. This prevents gcc from optimizing out NULL pointer checks after the first use of a pointer. NULL pointer bugs are often exploited by attackers. Keeping these checks is a safety measure. (BZ#517964)

* the Emulex LPFC driver has been updated to version 8.0.16.47, which fixes a memory leak that caused memory allocation failures and system hangs. (BZ#513192)

* an error in the MPT Fusion driver makefile caused CSMI ioctls to not work with Serial Attached SCSI devices. (BZ#516184)

* this update adds the mmap_min_addr tunable and restriction checks to help prevent unprivileged users from creating new memory mappings below the minimum address. This can help prevent the exploitation of NULL pointer deference bugs. Note that mmap_min_addr is set to zero (disabled) by default for backwards compatibility. (BZ#517904)

* time-outs resulted in I/O errors being logged to '/var/log/messages' when running 'mt erase' on tape drives using certain LSI MegaRAID SAS adapters, preventing the command from completing. The megaraid_sas driver's timeout value is now set to the OS layer value. (BZ#517965)

* a locking issue caused the qla2xxx ioctl module to hang after encountering errors. This locking issue has been corrected. This ioctl module is used by the QLogic SAN management tools, such as SANsurfer and scli. (BZ#519428)

* when a RAID 1 array that uses the mptscsi driver and the LSI 1030 controller became degraded, the whole array was detected as being offline, which could cause kernel panics at boot or data loss.
(BZ#517295)

* on 32-bit architectures, if a file was held open and frequently written for more than 25 days, it was possible that the kernel would stop flushing those writes to storage. (BZ#515255)

* a memory allocation bug in ib_mthca prevented the driver from loading if it was loaded with large values for the 'num_mpt=' and 'num_mtt=' options. (BZ#518707)

* with this update, get_random_int() is more random and no longer uses a common seed value, reducing the possibility of predicting the values returned. (BZ#519692)

* a bug in __ptrace_unlink() caused it to create deadlocked and unkillable processes. (BZ#519446)

* previously, multiple threads using the fcntl() F_SETLK command to synchronize file access caused a deadlock in posix_locks_deadlock().
This could cause a system hang. (BZ#519429)

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.

This update fixes various security issues and some bugs in the SUSE Linux Enterprise 9 kernel.

  - The collect_rx_frame function in     drivers/isdn/hisax/hfc_usb.c in the Linux kernel allows     attackers to have an unspecified impact via a crafted     HDLC packet that arrives over ISDN and triggers a buffer     under-read. (CVE-2009-4005)

  - Array index error in the gdth_read_event function in     drivers/scsi/gdth.c in the Linux kernel allows local     users to cause a denial of service or possibly gain     privileges via a negative event index in an IOCTL     request. (CVE-2009-3080)

  - Missing CAP_NET_ADMIN checks in the ebtables netfilter     code might have allowed local attackers to modify bridge     firewall settings. (CVE-2010-0007)

  - drivers/net/e1000/e1000_main.c in the e1000 driver in     the Linux kernel handles Ethernet frames that exceed the     MTU by processing certain trailing payload data as if it     were a complete frame, which allows remote attackers to     bypass packet filters via a large packet with a crafted     payload. (CVE-2009-4536)

  - The dbg_lvl file for the megaraid_sas driver in the     Linux kernel has world-writable permissions, which     allows local users to change the (1) behavior and (2)     logging level of the driver by modifying this file.
    (CVE-2009-3889)

  - The z90crypt_unlocked_ioctl function in the z90crypt     driver in the Linux kernel does not perform a capability     check for the Z90QUIESCE operation, which allows local     users to leverage euid 0 privileges to force a driver     outage. (CVE-2009-1883)

  - Memory leak in the appletalk subsystem in the Linux     kernel, when the appletalk and ipddp modules are loaded     but the ipddp'N' device is not found, allows remote     attackers to cause a denial of service (memory     consumption) via IP-DDP datagrams. (CVE-2009-2903)

  - net/1/af_unix.c in the Linux kernel allows local users     to cause a denial of service (system hang) by creating     an abstract-namespace AF_UNIX listening socket,     performing a shutdown operation on this socket, and then     performing a series of connect operations to this     socket. (CVE-2009-3621)

  - The ATI Rage 128 (aka r128) driver in the Linux kernel     does not properly verify Concurrent Command Engine (CCE)     state initialization, which allows local users to cause     a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system     crash) or possibly gain privileges via unspecified ioctl     calls. (CVE-2009-3620)

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2009:1438 :

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues :

* the ADDR_COMPAT_LAYOUT and MMAP_PAGE_ZERO flags were not cleared when a setuid or setgid program was executed. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to bypass the mmap_min_addr protection mechanism and perform a NULL pointer dereference attack, or bypass the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature.
(CVE-2009-1895, Important)

* it was discovered that, when executing a new process, the clear_child_tid pointer in the Linux kernel is not cleared. If this pointer points to a writable portion of the memory of the new program, the kernel could corrupt four bytes of memory, possibly leading to a local denial of service or privilege escalation. (CVE-2009-2848, Important)

* Solar Designer reported a missing capability check in the z90crypt driver in the Linux kernel. This missing check could allow a local user with an effective user ID (euid) of 0 to bypass intended capability restrictions. (CVE-2009-1883, Moderate)

* a flaw was found in the way the do_sigaltstack() function in the Linux kernel copies the stack_t structure to user-space. On 64-bit machines, this flaw could lead to a four-byte information leak.
(CVE-2009-2847, Moderate)

This update also fixes the following bugs :

* the gcc flag '-fno-delete-null-pointer-checks' was added to the kernel build options. This prevents gcc from optimizing out NULL pointer checks after the first use of a pointer. NULL pointer bugs are often exploited by attackers. Keeping these checks is a safety measure. (BZ#517964)

* the Emulex LPFC driver has been updated to version 8.0.16.47, which fixes a memory leak that caused memory allocation failures and system hangs. (BZ#513192)

* an error in the MPT Fusion driver makefile caused CSMI ioctls to not work with Serial Attached SCSI devices. (BZ#516184)

* this update adds the mmap_min_addr tunable and restriction checks to help prevent unprivileged users from creating new memory mappings below the minimum address. This can help prevent the exploitation of NULL pointer deference bugs. Note that mmap_min_addr is set to zero (disabled) by default for backwards compatibility. (BZ#517904)

* time-outs resulted in I/O errors being logged to '/var/log/messages' when running 'mt erase' on tape drives using certain LSI MegaRAID SAS adapters, preventing the command from completing. The megaraid_sas driver's timeout value is now set to the OS layer value. (BZ#517965)

* a locking issue caused the qla2xxx ioctl module to hang after encountering errors. This locking issue has been corrected. This ioctl module is used by the QLogic SAN management tools, such as SANsurfer and scli. (BZ#519428)

* when a RAID 1 array that uses the mptscsi driver and the LSI 1030 controller became degraded, the whole array was detected as being offline, which could cause kernel panics at boot or data loss.
(BZ#517295)

* on 32-bit architectures, if a file was held open and frequently written for more than 25 days, it was possible that the kernel would stop flushing those writes to storage. (BZ#515255)

* a memory allocation bug in ib_mthca prevented the driver from loading if it was loaded with large values for the 'num_mpt=' and 'num_mtt=' options. (BZ#518707)

* with this update, get_random_int() is more random and no longer uses a common seed value, reducing the possibility of predicting the values returned. (BZ#519692)

* a bug in __ptrace_unlink() caused it to create deadlocked and unkillable processes. (BZ#519446)

* previously, multiple threads using the fcntl() F_SETLK command to synchronize file access caused a deadlock in posix_locks_deadlock().
This could cause a system hang. (BZ#519429)

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.

Solar Designer discovered that the z90crypt driver did not correctly check capabilities. A local attacker could exploit this to shut down the device, leading to a denial of service. Only affected Ubuntu 6.06.
(CVE-2009-1883)

Michael Buesch discovered that the SGI GRU driver did not correctly check the length when setting options. A local attacker could exploit this to write to the kernel stack, leading to root privilege escalation or a denial of service. Only affected Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04.
(CVE-2009-2584)

It was discovered that SELinux did not fully implement the mmap_min_addr restrictions. A local attacker could exploit this to allocate the NULL memory page which could lead to further attacks against kernel NULL-dereference vulnerabilities. Ubuntu 6.06 was not affected. (CVE-2009-2695)

Cagri Coltekin discovered that the UDP stack did not correctly handle certain flags. A local user could send specially crafted commands and traffic to gain root privileges or crash the systeam, leading to a denial of service. Only affected Ubuntu 6.06. (CVE-2009-2698)

Hiroshi Shimamoto discovered that monotonic timers did not correctly validate parameters. A local user could make a specially crafted timer request to gain root privileges or crash the system, leading to a denial of service. Only affected Ubuntu 9.04. (CVE-2009-2767)

Michael Buesch discovered that the HPPA ISA EEPROM driver did not correctly validate positions. A local user could make a specially crafted request to gain root privileges or crash the system, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2009-2846)

Ulrich Drepper discovered that kernel signal stacks were not being correctly padded on 64-bit systems. A local attacker could send specially crafted calls to expose 4 bytes of kernel stack memory, leading to a loss of privacy. (CVE-2009-2847)

Jens Rosenboom discovered that the clone method did not correctly clear certain fields. A local attacker could exploit this to gain privileges or crash the system, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2009-2848)

It was discovered that the MD driver did not check certain sysfs files. A local attacker with write access to /sys could exploit this to cause a system crash, leading to a denial of service. Ubuntu 6.06 was not affected. (CVE-2009-2849)

Mark Smith discovered that the AppleTalk stack did not correctly manage memory. A remote attacker could send specially crafted traffic to cause the system to consume all available memory, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2009-2903)

Loic Minier discovered that eCryptfs did not correctly handle writing to certain deleted files. A local attacker could exploit this to gain root privileges or crash the system, leading to a denial of service.
Ubuntu 6.06 was not affected. (CVE-2009-2908)

It was discovered that the LLC, AppleTalk, IR, EConet, Netrom, and ROSE network stacks did not correctly initialize their data structures. A local attacker could make specially crafted calls to read kernel memory, leading to a loss of privacy. (CVE-2009-3001, CVE-2009-3002)

It was discovered that the randomization used for Address Space Layout Randomization was predictable within a small window of time. A local attacker could exploit this to leverage further attacks that require knowledge of userspace memory layouts. (CVE-2009-3238)

Eric Paris discovered that NFSv4 did not correctly handle file creation failures. An attacker with write access to an NFSv4 share could exploit this to create files with arbitrary mode bits, leading to privilege escalation or a loss of privacy. (CVE-2009-3286)

Bob Tracy discovered that the SCSI generic driver did not correctly use the right index for array access. A local attacker with write access to a CDR could exploit this to crash the system, leading to a denial of service. Only Ubuntu 9.04 was affected. (CVE-2009-3288)

Jan Kiszka discovered that KVM did not correctly validate certain hypercalls. A local unprivileged attacker in a virtual guest could exploit this to crash the guest kernel, leading to a denial of service. Ubuntu 6.06 was not affected. (CVE-2009-3290).

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

Several vulnerabilities have been discovered in the Linux kernel that may lead to a denial of service, sensitive memory leak or privilege escalation. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project identifies the following problems :

  - CVE-2009-1883     Solar Designer discovered a missing capability check in     the z90crypt driver or s390 systems. This vulnerability     may allow a local user to gain elevated privileges.

  - CVE-2009-2909     Arjan van de Ven discovered an issue in the AX.25     protocol implementation. A specially crafted call to     setsockopt() can result in a denial of service (kernel     oops).

  - CVE-2009-3001     Jiri Slaby fixed a sensitive memory leak issue in the     ANSI/IEEE 802.2 LLC implementation. This is not     exploitable in the Debian lenny kernel as root     privileges are required to exploit this issue.

  - CVE-2009-3002     Eric Dumazet fixed several sensitive memory leaks in the     IrDA, X.25 PLP (Rose), NET/ROM, Acorn Econet/AUN, and     Controller Area Network (CAN) implementations. Local     users can exploit these issues to gain access to kernel     memory.

  - CVE-2009-3228     Eric Dumazet reported an instance of uninitialized     kernel memory in the network packet scheduler. Local     users may be able to exploit this issue to read the     contents of sensitive kernel memory.

  - CVE-2009-3238     Linus Torvalds provided a change to the get_random_int()     function to increase its randomness.

  - CVE-2009-3286     Eric Paris discovered an issue with the NFSv4 server     implementation. When an O_EXCL create fails, files may     be left with corrupted permissions, possibly granting     unintentional privileges to other local users.

  - CVE-2009-3547     Earl Chew discovered a NULL pointer dereference issue in     the pipe_rdwr_open function which can be used by local     users to gain elevated privileges.

  - CVE-2009-3612     Jiri Pirko discovered a typo in the initialization of a     structure in the netlink subsystem that may allow local     users to gain access to sensitive kernel memory.

  - CVE-2009-3621     Tomoki Sekiyama discovered a deadlock condition in the     UNIX domain socket implementation. Local users can     exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service     (system hang).

ID	Name	Product	Family	Published	Updated	Severity
40998	RHEL 4 : kernel (RHSA-2009:1438)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	9/16/2009	1/14/2021	high
43790	CentOS 4 : kernel (CESA-2009:1438)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	1/6/2010	1/4/2021	high
44654	SuSE9 Security Update : the Linux kernel (YOU Patch Number 12578)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	2/18/2010	1/14/2021	high
67925	Oracle Linux 4 : kernel (ELSA-2009-1438)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	7/12/2013	8/24/2021	high
42209	Ubuntu 6.06 LTS / 8.04 LTS / 8.10 / 9.04 : linux, linux-source-2.6.15 vulnerabilities (USN-852-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	10/22/2009	1/19/2021	high
44794	Debian DSA-1929-1 : linux-2.6 - privilege escalation/denial of service/sensitive memory leak	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	2/24/2010	1/4/2021	high

Detections

Analytics

Plugins Search

high

high

high

high

high

high