1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-752-1

USN-752-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Publication date

7 April 2009

Overview

Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Releases

Packages

Details

NFS did not correctly handle races between fcntl and interrupts. A local
attacker on an NFS mount could consume unlimited kernel memory, leading to
a denial of service. (CVE-2008-4307)

Sparc syscalls did not correctly check mmap regions. A local attacker could
cause a system panic, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-6107)

In certain situations, cloned processes were able to send signals to parent
processes, crossing privilege boundaries. A local attacker could send
arbitrary signals to parent processes, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2009-0028)

The 64-bit syscall interfaces did not correctly handle sign extension. A
local attacker could make malicious syscalls, possibly gaining root
privileges. The x86_64 architecture was not affected. (CVE-2009-0029)

The...

NFS did not correctly handle races between fcntl and interrupts. A local
attacker on an NFS mount could consume unlimited kernel memory, leading to
a denial of service. (CVE-2008-4307)

Sparc syscalls did not correctly check mmap regions. A local attacker could
cause a system panic, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-6107)

In certain situations, cloned processes were able to send signals to parent
processes, crossing privilege boundaries. A local attacker could send
arbitrary signals to parent processes, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2009-0028)

The 64-bit syscall interfaces did not correctly handle sign extension. A
local attacker could make malicious syscalls, possibly gaining root
privileges. The x86_64 architecture was not affected. (CVE-2009-0029)

The SCTP stack did not correctly validate FORWARD-TSN packets. A remote
attacker could send specially crafted SCTP traffic causing a system crash,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2009-0065)

The Dell platform device did not correctly validate user parameters. A
local attacker could perform specially crafted reads to crash the system,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2009-0322)

Network interfaces statistics for the SysKonnect FDDI driver did not check
capabilities. A local user could reset statistics, potentially interfering
with packet accounting systems. (CVE-2009-0675)

The getsockopt function did not correctly clear certain parameters. A local
attacker could read leaked kernel memory, leading to a loss of privacy.
(CVE-2009-0676)

The syscall interface did not correctly validate parameters when crossing
the 64-bit/32-bit boundary. A local attacker could bypass certain syscall
restricts via crafted syscalls. (CVE-2009-0834, CVE-2009-0835)

The shared memory subsystem did not correctly handle certain shmctl calls
when CONFIG_SHMEM was disabled. Ubuntu kernels were not vulnerable, since
CONFIG_SHMEM is enabled by default. (CVE-2009-0859)

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
6.06 dapper linux-image-2.6.15-54-hppa64 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-hppa32-smp –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-server-bigiron –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-amd64-generic –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-itanium –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-k7 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-powerpc-smp –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-server –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-amd64-server –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-sparc64-smp –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-sparc64 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-mckinley-smp –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-amd64-k8 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-386 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-mckinley –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-hppa32 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-amd64-xeon –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-powerpc –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-powerpc64-smp –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-itanium-smp –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-686 –  2.6.15-54.76
linux-image-2.6.15-54-hppa64-smp –  2.6.15-54.76

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References

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