linux vulnerabilities

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2017-16939   CVE-2017-1000405  

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Mohamed Ghannam discovered that a use-after-free vulnerability existed in the Netlink subsystem (XFRM) in the Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2017-16939)

8 December 2017

linux vulnerabilities

A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:

  • Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Summary

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Software Description

  • linux - Linux kernel

Details

Mohamed Ghannam discovered that a use-after-free vulnerability existed in the Netlink subsystem (XFRM) in the Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2017-16939)

It was discovered that the Linux kernel did not properly handle copy-on- write of transparent huge pages. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (application crashes) or possibly gain administrative privileges. (CVE-2017-1000405)

Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
linux-image-3.13.0-137-generic - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-generic-lpae - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-lowlatency - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-powerpc-e500 - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-powerpc-e500mc - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-powerpc-smp - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-powerpc64-emb - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-3.13.0-137-powerpc64-smp - 3.13.0-137.186
linux-image-generic - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-generic-lpae - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-lowlatency - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-powerpc-e500 - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-powerpc-e500mc - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-powerpc-smp - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-powerpc64-emb - 3.13.0.137.146
linux-image-powerpc64-smp - 3.13.0.137.146

To update your system, please follow these instructions: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/Upgrades.

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make all the necessary changes.

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. Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic, linux-generic-lts-RELEASE, linux-virtual, linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform this as well.

References