USN-574-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

4 February 2008

Linux kernel vulnerabilities

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Details

The minix filesystem did not properly validate certain filesystem
values. If a local attacker could trick the system into attempting
to mount a corrupted minix filesystem, the kernel could be made to
hang for long periods of time, resulting in a denial of service.
This was only vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10. (CVE-2006-6058)

The signal handling on PowerPC systems using HTX allowed local users
to cause a denial of service via floating point corruption. This was
only vulnerable in Ubuntu 6.10 and 7.04. (CVE-2007-3107)

The Linux kernel did not properly validate the hop-by-hop IPv6
extended header. Remote attackers could send a crafted IPv6 packet
and cause a denial of service via kernel panic. This was only
vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.04. (CVE-2007-4567)

The JFFS2 filesystem with ACL support enabled did not properly store
permissions during inode creation and ACL setting. Local users could
possibly access restricted files after a remount. This was only
vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10. (CVE-2007-4849)

Chris Evans discovered an issue with certain drivers that use the
ieee80211_rx function. Remote attackers could send a crafted 802.11
frame and cause a denial of service via crash. This was only
vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10. (CVE-2007-4997)

Alex Smith discovered an issue with the pwc driver for certain webcam
devices. A local user with physical access to the system could remove
the device while a userspace application had it open and cause the USB
subsystem to block. This was only vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.04.
(CVE-2007-5093)

Scott James Remnant discovered a coding error in ptrace. Local users
could exploit this and cause the kernel to enter an infinite loop.
This was only vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10. (CVE-2007-5500)

It was discovered that the Linux kernel could dereference a NULL
pointer when processing certain IPv4 TCP packets. A remote attacker
could send a crafted TCP ACK response and cause a denial of service
via crash. This was only vulnerable in Ubuntu 7.10. (CVE-2007-5501)

Warren Togami discovered that the hrtimer subsystem did not properly
check for large relative timeouts. A local user could exploit this and
cause a denial of service via soft lockup. (CVE-2007-5966)

Venustech AD-LAB discovered a buffer overflow in the isdn net
subsystem. This issue is exploitable by local users via crafted input
to the isdn_ioctl function. (CVE-2007-6063)

It was discovered that the isdn subsystem did not properly check for
NULL termination when performing ioctl handling. A local user could
exploit this to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2007-6151)

Blake Frantz discovered that when a root process overwrote an existing
core file, the resulting core file retained the previous core file's
ownership. Local users could exploit this to gain access to sensitive
information. (CVE-2007-6206)

Hugh Dickins discovered the when using the tmpfs filesystem, under
rare circumstances, a kernel page may be improperly cleared. A local
user may be able to exploit this and read sensitive kernel data or
cause a denial of service via crash. (CVE-2007-6417)

Bill Roman discovered that the VFS subsystem did not properly check
access modes. A local user may be able to gain removal privileges on
directories. (CVE-2008-0001)

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

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Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 7.10
Ubuntu 7.04
Ubuntu 6.10

After a standard system upgrade you need to reboot your computer to
effect the necessary changes.

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