Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Synopsis

Important: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Important

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and three bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

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

Description

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux
operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues:

• an array index error was found in the gdth driver in the Linux kernel. A
  local user could send a specially-crafted IOCTL request that would cause a
  denial of service or, possibly, privilege escalation. (CVE-2009-3080,
  Important)
  
• a flaw was found in the collect_rx_frame() function in the HiSax ISDN
  driver (hfc_usb) in the Linux kernel. An attacker could use this flaw to
  send a specially-crafted HDLC packet that could trigger a buffer out of
  bounds, possibly resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2009-4005,
  Important)
  
• permission issues were found in the megaraid_sas driver (for SAS based
  RAID controllers) in the Linux kernel. The "dbg_lvl" and "poll_mode_io"
  files on the sysfs file system ("/sys/") had world-writable permissions.
  This could allow local, unprivileged users to change the behavior of the
  driver. (CVE-2009-3889, CVE-2009-3939, Moderate)
  
• a buffer overflow flaw was found in the hfs_bnode_read() function in the
  HFS file system implementation in the Linux kernel. This could lead to a
  denial of service if a user browsed a specially-crafted HFS file system,
  for example, by running "ls". (CVE-2009-4020, Low)
  

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• if a process was using ptrace() to trace a multi-threaded process, and
  that multi-threaded process dumped its core, the process performing the
  trace could hang in wait4(). This issue could be triggered by running
  "strace -f" on a multi-threaded process that was dumping its core,
  resulting in the strace command hanging. (BZ#555869)
  
• a bug in the ptrace() implementation could have, in some cases, caused
  ptrace_detach() to create a zombie process if the process being traced
  was terminated with a SIGKILL signal. (BZ#555869)
  
• the RHSA-2010:0020 update resolved an issue (CVE-2009-4537) in the
  Realtek r8169 Ethernet driver. This update implements a better solution for
  that issue. Note: This is not a security regression. The original fix was
  complete. This update is adding the official upstream fix. (BZ#556406)
  

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported
patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for this
update to take effect.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.8 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.8 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 4.8 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 4 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 4 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.8 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 4.8 s390
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 4 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 4.8 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 526068 - CVE-2009-3889 CVE-2009-3939 kernel: megaraid_sas permissions in sysfs
• BZ - 539414 - CVE-2009-3080 kernel: gdth: Prevent negative offsets in ioctl
• BZ - 539435 - CVE-2009-4005 kernel: isdn: hfc_usb: fix read buffer overflow
• BZ - 540736 - CVE-2009-4020 kernel: hfs buffer overflow
• BZ - 555869 - [4.7] wait4 blocks on non-existing pid [rhel-4.8.z]
• BZ - 556406 - kernel: r8169: straighten out overlength frame detection (improved) [rhel-4.9] [rhel-4.8.z]

CVEs

• CVE-2009-3939
• CVE-2009-3889
• CVE-2009-3080
• CVE-2009-4020
• CVE-2009-4005

References

• http://www.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important