1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-3151-2

USN-3151-2: Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerability

Publication date

5 December 2016

Overview

The system could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator.

Releases

Packages

Details

USN-3151-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 16.04
LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux
Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for Ubuntu
14.04 LTS.

Philip Pettersson discovered a race condition in the af_packet
implementation in the Linux kernel. A local unprivileged attacker could use
this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or run arbitrary code with
administrative privileges.

USN-3151-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 16.04
LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux
Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for Ubuntu
14.04 LTS.

Philip Pettersson discovered a race condition in the af_packet
implementation in the Linux kernel. A local unprivileged attacker could use
this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or run arbitrary code with
administrative privileges.

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
14.04 trusty linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
linux-image-4.4.0-53-generic-lpae –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
linux-image-4.4.0-53-lowlatency –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
linux-image-4.4.0-53-powerpc-e500mc –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
linux-image-4.4.0-53-powerpc-smp –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
linux-image-4.4.0-53-powerpc64-emb –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
linux-image-4.4.0-53-powerpc64-smp –  4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1

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References

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