1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-4096-1

USN-4096-1: Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerability

Publication date

13 August 2019

Overview

The system could be made to expose sensitive information.

Releases

Packages

  • linux-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
  • linux-aws-hwe - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS-HWE) systems

Details

Andrei Vlad Lutas and Dan Lutas discovered that some x86 processors
incorrectly handle SWAPGS instructions during speculative execution. A
local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (kernel
memory).

Andrei Vlad Lutas and Dan Lutas discovered that some x86 processors
incorrectly handle SWAPGS instructions during speculative execution. A
local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (kernel
memory).

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
19.04 disco linux-image-5.0.0-1012-aws –  5.0.0-1012.13
linux-image-aws –  5.0.0.1012.12
18.04 bionic linux-image-4.15.0-1045-aws –  4.15.0-1045.47
linux-image-aws –  4.15.0.1045.44
16.04 xenial linux-image-4.15.0-1045-aws –  4.15.0-1045.47~16.04.1
linux-image-aws-hwe –  4.15.0.1045.45

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References

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