1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-110-1

USN-110-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Publication date

11 April 2005

Overview

Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Releases

Details

Alexander Nyberg discovered an integer overflow in the
sysfs_write_file() function. A local attacker could exploit this to
crash the kernel or possibly even execute arbitrary code with root
privileges by writing to an user-writable file in /sys under certain
low-memory conditions. However, there are very few cases where a
user-writeable sysfs file actually exists. (CAN-2005-0867)

Olof Johansson discovered a Denial of Service vulnerability in the
futex functions, which provide semaphores for exclusive locking of
resources. A local attacker could possibly exploit this to cause a
kernel deadlock. (CAN-2005-0937)

In addition this update fixes two race conditions in the ext3 and jfs
file system drivers, which could lead to a kernel crash under certain
(unusual) conditions. However, these cannot easily be triggered by
users, thus they are not security sensitive.
(

Alexander Nyberg discovered an integer overflow in the
sysfs_write_file() function. A local attacker could exploit this to
crash the kernel or possibly even execute arbitrary code with root
privileges by writing to an user-writable file in /sys under certain
low-memory conditions. However, there are very few cases where a
user-writeable sysfs file actually exists. (CAN-2005-0867)

Olof Johansson discovered a Denial of Service vulnerability in the
futex functions, which provide semaphores for exclusive locking of
resources. A local attacker could possibly exploit this to cause a
kernel deadlock. (CAN-2005-0937)

In addition this update fixes two race conditions in the ext3 and jfs
file system drivers, which could lead to a kernel crash under certain
(unusual) conditions. However, these cannot easily be triggered by
users, thus they are not security sensitive.
(http://linux.bkbits.net:8080/linux-2.5/gnupatch@4248d87aETPJX79hVXl4owAUwu2SmQ,
http://linux.bkbits.net:8080/linux-2.6/cset@1.2181.46.242)

Update instructions

In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

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

Ubuntu Release Package Version
4.10 warty linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-amd64-k8-smp – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-686 – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-amd64-generic – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-powerpc-smp – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-k7-smp – 
linux-patch-debian-2.6.8.1 – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-power4-smp – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-power3-smp – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-amd64-xeon – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-k7 – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-power3 – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-power4 – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-686-smp – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-powerpc – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-amd64-k8 – 
linux-source-2.6.8.1 – 
linux-image-2.6.8.1-5-386 – 

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References

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