linux-hwe, linux-azure, linux-gcp vulnerabilities

Related Vulnerabilities: CVE-2018-1118   CVE-2017-13695  

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

USN-3762-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

11 September 2018

linux-hwe, linux-azure, linux-gcp vulnerabilities

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

  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Summary

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Software Description

  • linux-azure - Linux kernel for Microsoft Azure Cloud systems
  • linux-gcp - Linux kernel for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) systems
  • linux-hwe - Linux hardware enablement (HWE) kernel

Details

USN-3762-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

It was discovered that the VirtIO subsystem in the Linux kernel did not properly initialize memory in some situations. A local attacker could use this to possibly expose sensitive information (kernel memory). (CVE-2018-1118)

Seunghun Han discovered an information leak in the ACPI handling code in the Linux kernel when handling early termination of ACPI table loading. A local attacker could use this to expose sensitive informal (kernel address locations). (CVE-2017-13695)

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
linux-image-4.15.0-1019-gcp - 4.15.0-1019.20~16.04.1
linux-image-4.15.0-1023-azure - 4.15.0-1023.24~16.04.1
linux-image-4.15.0-34-generic - 4.15.0-34.37~16.04.1
linux-image-4.15.0-34-generic-lpae - 4.15.0-34.37~16.04.1
linux-image-4.15.0-34-lowlatency - 4.15.0-34.37~16.04.1
linux-image-azure - 4.15.0.1023.29
linux-image-gcp - 4.15.0.1019.33
linux-image-generic-hwe-16.04 - 4.15.0.34.56
linux-image-generic-lpae-hwe-16.04 - 4.15.0.34.56
linux-image-gke - 4.15.0.1019.33
linux-image-lowlatency-hwe-16.04 - 4.15.0.34.56

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