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 multiple security issues and several bugs
are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

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 issues:

• Buffer overflow flaws were found in the udf_load_logicalvol() function in
  the Universal Disk Format (UDF) file system implementation in the Linux
  kernel. An attacker with physical access to a system could use these flaws
  to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2012-3400,
  Low)
  

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, race conditions could sometimes occur in interrupt handling
  on the Emulex BladeEngine 2 (BE2) controllers, causing the network adapter
  to become unresponsive. This update provides a series of patches for the
  be2net driver, which prevents the race from occurring. The network cards
  using BE2 chipsets no longer hang due to incorrectly handled interrupt
  events. (BZ#884704)
  
• A boot-time memory allocation pool (the DMI heap) is used to keep the
  list of Desktop Management Interface (DMI) devices during the system boot.
  Previously, the size of the DMI heap was only 2048 bytes on the AMD64 and
  Intel 64 architectures and the DMI heap space could become easily depleted
  on some systems, such as the IBM System x3500 M2. A subsequent OOM failure
  could, under certain circumstances, lead to a NULL pointer entry being
  stored in the DMI device list. Consequently, scanning of such a corrupted
  DMI device list resulted in a kernel panic. The boot-time memory allocation
  pool for the AMD64 and Intel 64 architectures has been enlarged to 4096
  bytes and the routines responsible for populating the DMI device list have
  been modified to skip entries if their name string is NULL. The kernel no
  longer panics in this scenario. (BZ#902683)
  
• The size of the buffer used to print the kernel taint output on kernel
  panic was too small, which resulted in the kernel taint output not being
  printed completely sometimes. With this update, the size of the buffer has
  been adjusted and the kernel taint output is now displayed properly.
  (BZ#905829)
  
• The code to print the kernel taint output contained a typographical
  error. Consequently, the kernel taint output, which is displayed on kernel
  panic, could not provide taint error messages for unsupported hardware.
  This update fixes the typo and the kernel taint output is now displayed
  correctly. (BZ#885063)
  

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 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.9 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.9 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support 5.9 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.9 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems - Extended Update Support 5.9 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian - Extended Update Support 5.9 ppc
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 5.9 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Update Support from RHUI 5.9 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.9 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - AUS 5.9 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 843139 - CVE-2012-3400 kernel: udf: buffer overflow when parsing sparing table

CVEs

• CVE-2012-3400

References

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