Ubuntu Security Notices
USN-4486-1

USN-4486-1: Linux kernel vulnerability

Publication date

2 September 2020

Overview

The Linux kernel could be made to crash if it mounted a malicious XFS file system.

Releases

16.04 LTS 14.04 LTS

Packages

linux - Linux kernel
linux-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
linux-kvm - Linux kernel for cloud environments
linux-lts-xenial - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Xenial for Trusty
linux-raspi2 - Linux kernel for Raspberry Pi (V8) systems
linux-snapdragon - Linux kernel for Qualcomm Snapdragon processors

Details

Wen Xu discovered that the XFS filesystem implementation in the Linux
kernel did not properly validate meta-data information. An attacker could
use this to construct a malicious xfs image that, when mounted, could cause
a denial of service (system crash).

Update instructions

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

ATTENTION: Due to an unavoidable ABI change the kernel updates have been given a new version number, which requires you to recompile and reinstall all third party kernel modules you might have installed. Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic, linux-generic-lts-RELEASE, linux-virtual, linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform this as well.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu Release	Package Version
16.04 xenial	linux-image-4.4.0-1079-kvm – 4.4.0-1079.86
	linux-image-4.4.0-1113-aws – 4.4.0-1113.126
	linux-image-4.4.0-1138-raspi2 – 4.4.0-1138.147
	linux-image-4.4.0-1142-snapdragon – 4.4.0-1142.151
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-generic – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-generic-lpae – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-lowlatency – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc-e500mc – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc-smp – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc64-emb – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc64-smp – 4.4.0-189.219
	linux-image-aws – 4.4.0.1113.118
	linux-image-generic – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-generic-lpae – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-kvm – 4.4.0.1079.77
	linux-image-lowlatency – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-powerpc-e500mc – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-powerpc-smp – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-powerpc64-emb – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-powerpc64-smp – 4.4.0.189.195
	linux-image-raspi2 – 4.4.0.1138.138
	linux-image-snapdragon – 4.4.0.1142.134
	linux-image-virtual – 4.4.0.189.195
14.04 trusty	linux-image-4.4.0-1077-aws – 4.4.0-1077.81
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-generic – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-generic-lpae – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-lowlatency – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc-e500mc – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc-smp – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc64-emb – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-4.4.0-189-powerpc64-smp – 4.4.0-189.219~14.04.1
	linux-image-aws – 4.4.0.1077.74
	linux-image-generic-lpae-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-generic-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-lowlatency-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-powerpc-e500mc-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-powerpc-smp-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-powerpc64-emb-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-powerpc64-smp-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165
	linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial – 4.4.0.189.165

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Get Ubuntu Pro

References

CVE-2018-10323

CVE-2018-10323

Have additional questions?

Talk to a member of the team ›