1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-715-1

USN-715-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Publication date

29 January 2009

Overview

Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Releases

Packages

Details

Hugo Dias discovered that the ATM subsystem did not correctly manage
socket counts. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a system hang,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-5079)

It was discovered that the inotify subsystem contained watch removal
race conditions. A local attacker could exploit this to crash the system,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-5182)

Dann Frazier discovered that in certain situations sendmsg did not
correctly release allocated memory. A local attacker could exploit
this to force the system to run out of free memory, leading to a denial
of service. (CVE-2008-5300)

Helge Deller discovered that PA-RISC stack unwinding was not handled
correctly. A local attacker could exploit this to crash the system,
leading do a denial of service. This did not affect official...

Hugo Dias discovered that the ATM subsystem did not correctly manage
socket counts. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a system hang,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-5079)

It was discovered that the inotify subsystem contained watch removal
race conditions. A local attacker could exploit this to crash the system,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-5182)

Dann Frazier discovered that in certain situations sendmsg did not
correctly release allocated memory. A local attacker could exploit
this to force the system to run out of free memory, leading to a denial
of service. (CVE-2008-5300)

Helge Deller discovered that PA-RISC stack unwinding was not handled
correctly. A local attacker could exploit this to crash the system,
leading do a denial of service. This did not affect official Ubuntu
kernels, but was fixed in the source for anyone performing HPPA kernel
builds. (CVE-2008-5395)

It was discovered that the ATA subsystem did not correctly set timeouts. A
local attacker could exploit this to cause a system hang, leading to a
denial of service. (CVE-2008-5700)

It was discovered that the ib700 watchdog timer did not correctly check
buffer sizes. A local attacker could send a specially crafted ioctl
to the device to cause a system crash, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2008-5702)

Update instructions

After a standard system upgrade you need to reboot your computer to effect 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. If you use linux-restricted-modules, you have to update that package as well to get modules which work with the new kernel version. Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic, linux-server, 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
8.10 intrepid linux-image-2.6.27-11-server –  2.6.27-11.27
linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic –  2.6.27-11.27
linux-image-2.6.27-11-virtual –  2.6.27-11.27

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References

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