1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-1916-1

USN-1916-1: Linux kernel (Raring HWE) vulnerability

Publication date

29 July 2013

Overview

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

Releases

Packages

Details

An information leak was discovered in the Linux kernel when inotify is used
to monitor the /dev/ptmx device. A local user could exploit this flaw to
discover keystroke timing and potentially discover sensitive information
like password length.

An information leak was discovered in the Linux kernel when inotify is used
to monitor the /dev/ptmx device. A local user could exploit this flaw to
discover keystroke timing and potentially discover sensitive information
like password length.

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. 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
12.04 precise linux-image-3.8.0-27-generic –  3.8.0-27.40~precise3

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References

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