kernel security update

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2004-0619   CVE-2005-0750   CVE-2005-0449   CVE-2005-0384  

Synopsis

kernel security update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages are now available as part of ongoing support and
maintenance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 2.1. This is the seventh
regular update.

This security advisory has been rated as having important security impact
by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

Description

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system.

This is the seventh regular kernel update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1

The following security updates were made:

A flaw in fragment queuing was discovered that affected the Linux 2.4 and
Linux 2.6 kernel netfilter subsystem. On systems configured to filter or
process network packets (for example those configured to do firewalling),
a remote attacker could send a carefully crafted set of fragmented packets
to a machine and cause a denial of service (system crash). In order to
sucessfully exploit this flaw, the attacker would need to know (or guess)
some aspects of the firewall ruleset in place on the target system to be
able to craft the right fragmented packets. (CAN-2005-0449)

A flaw was discovered in the Linux PPP driver. On systems allowing remote
users to connect to a server using ppp, a remote client could cause a
denial of service (system crash). (CAN-2005-0384)

A flaw was discovered in the bluetooth driver system. On system where the
bluetooth modules are loaded, a local user could use this flaw to gain
elevated (root) privileges. (CAN-2005-0750)

An integer overflow flaw was discovered in the ubsec_keysetup function
in the Broadcom 5820 cryptonet driver. On systems using this driver,
a local user could cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly gain
elevated privileges. (CAN-2004-0619) Please note that this update contains
an unpatched kernel module called bcm5820_old for backwards compatibility
which is still vulnerable to CAN-2004-0619.

The following device drivers have been updated to new versions:

mptfusion: 2.05.16 -> 2.05.16.02
bcm5820: 1.17 -> 1.81
cciss: 2.4.52 -> 2.4.54
qla2x00: 6.04.01 -> 7.01.01

There were many bug fixes in various parts of the kernel. The ongoing
effort to resolve these problems has resulted in a marked improvement
in the reliability and scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

Bug fixes include:

  • Fixes an incorrect and ever-changing physical_id field in
    /proc/cpuinfo.
  • Now recognizes a particular e1000 device (PCI ID 8086:1014)
  • Fixes a panic in disk quota code
  • Fixes a bug in which msync(...MS_SYNC) returns before the data
    is written to disk
  • Adds new devices to the SCSI scan list so they can
    be initialized and handled properly: LSI ProFibre 4000R, HP
    HSV200/210, HP MSA, STK OPENstorage D178.
  • Fixes a potential format overflow in /proc/partitions
  • Restores module parameters to the e100 driver for compatibility with
    existing customer scripts.
  • Fixes a bug in which cat'ing /proc/mdstat while adding/removing
    devices can cause a kernel oops

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users are advised to upgrade their
kernels to the packages associated with their machine architectures
and configurations as listed in this erratum.

Please note that a vulnerability addressed by this update (CAN-2005-0449)
required a change to the kernel module ABI which could cause third party
modules to not work. However, Red Hat is currently not aware of any module
that would be affected by this change.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied. Use Red Hat
Network to download and update your packages. To launch the Red Hat
Update Agent, use the following command:

up2date

For information on how to install packages manually, refer to the
following Web page for the System Administration or Customization
guide specific to your system:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise

Affected Products

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386

Fixes

  • BZ - 127256 - CAN-2004-0619 Broadcom 5820 integer overflow
  • BZ - 147674 - physical_id field of /proc/cpuinfo contains arbitrary values that change
  • BZ - 151242 - CAN-2005-0384 pppd remote DoS
  • BZ - 151803 - CAN-2005-0449 Possible remote Oops/firewall bypass - kABI breaker
  • BZ - 152179 - CAN-2005-0750 bluetooth security flaw

CVEs

References

(none)