USN-2443-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

12 December 2014

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

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Releases

Packages

Details

Andy Lutomirski discovered that the Linux kernel does not properly handle
faults associated with the Stack Segment (SS) register in the x86
architecture. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to gain
administrative privileges. (CVE-2014-9322)

An information leak in the Linux kernel was discovered that could leak the
high 16 bits of the kernel stack address on 32-bit Kernel Virtual Machine
(KVM) paravirt guests. A user in the guest OS could exploit this leak to
obtain information that could potentially be used to aid in attacking the
kernel. (CVE-2014-8134)

Rabin Vincent, Robert Swiecki, Russell King discovered that the ftrace
subsystem of the Linux kernel does not properly handle private syscall
numbers. A local user could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service
(OOPS). (CVE-2014-7826)

Rabin Vincent, Robert Swiecki, Russell Kinglaw discovered a flaw in how the
perf subsystem of the Linux kernel handles private systecall numbers. A
local user could exploit this to cause a denial of service (OOPS) or bypass
ASLR protections via a crafted application. (CVE-2014-7825)

A null pointer dereference flaw was discovered in the the Linux kernel's
SCTP implementation when ASCONF is used. A remote attacker could exploit
this flaw to cause a denial of service (system crash) via a malformed INIT
chunk. (CVE-2014-7841)

A stack buffer overflow was discovered in the ioctl command handling for
the Technotrend/Hauppauge USB DEC devices driver. A local user could
exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly
gain privileges. (CVE-2014-8884)

Andy Lutomirski discovered that the Linux kernel does not properly handle
faults associated with the Stack Segment (SS) register on the x86
architecture. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of
service (panic). (CVE-2014-9090)

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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 12.04

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. If
you use linux-restricted-modules, you have to update that package as
well to get modules which work with the new kernel version. Unless you
manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic,
linux-server, linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically
perform this as well.