Low: kernel security and bug fix update

Synopsis

Low: kernel security and bug fix update

Type/Severity

Security Advisory: Low

Topic

Updated kernel packages that fix one security issue and three bugs are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Extended Update Support.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low
security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score,
which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in
the References section.

Description

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

This update fixes the following security issue:

• A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's dl2k driver, used by
  certain D-Link Gigabit Ethernet adapters, restricted IOCTLs. A local,
  unprivileged user could use this flaw to issue potentially harmful IOCTLs,
  which could cause Ethernet adapters using the dl2k driver to malfunction
  (for example, losing network connectivity). (CVE-2012-2313, Low)
  

Red Hat would like to thank Stephan Mueller for reporting this issue.

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• The QLogic netxen_nic driver has been upgraded to version 4.0.75, which
  provides several bug fixes. This update also allows users to set speed and
  automatic negotiation parameters for Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports. Note
  that QLogic devices do not support half-duplex data transmission at the
  moment. (BZ#865304)
  
• When the ext3_dx_add_entry() function had to split a directory index
  node, it had to ensure that the name_len variable of the new dx_node's
  fake_dirent structure was set to zero. Otherwise, the e2fsck tool did not
  recognize it as an intermediate htree node and considered the htree node to
  be corrupted. The dx_node's fake_dirent structure is now always explicitly
  set to zero, which prevents the corruption in this scenario. (BZ#866548)
  
• Previously, the error cleanup logic was incorrect: once an error was
  detected, the same error was reported on every polling cycle (the default
  behavior is to poll every second). This caused an excessive amount of Error
  Detection And Correction (EDAC) messages to be logged in the
  /var/log/messages file. This update fixes the error cleanup logic, which
  prevents the unnecessary messages from being logged. (BZ#866796)
  

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
https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

To install kernel packages manually, use "rpm -ivh [package]". Do not
use "rpm -Uvh" as that will remove the running kernel binaries from
your system. You may use "rpm -e" to remove old kernels after
determining that the new kernel functions properly on your system.

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.6 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 5.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 5.6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.6 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.6 ppc

Fixes

• BZ - 818820 - CVE-2012-2313 kernel: unfiltered netdev rio_ioctl access by users

CVEs

• CVE-2012-2313

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#low