USN-2599-2: Linux kernel (Utopic HWE) vulnerability

Releases

• Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

Packages

• linux-lts-utopic - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Utopic

Details

USN-2599-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, however an unrelated
regression in the auditing of some path names was introduced. Due to the
regression the system could crash under certain conditions.

This update fixes the problem.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Original advisory details:

A race condition between chown() and execve() was discovered in the Linux
kernel. A local attacker could exploit this race by using chown on a
setuid-user-binary to gain administrative privileges.

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 14.04

• linux-image-3.16.0-37-generic - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1
• linux-image-3.16.0-37-generic-lpae - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1
• linux-image-3.16.0-37-lowlatency - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1
• linux-image-3.16.0-37-powerpc-e500mc - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1
• linux-image-3.16.0-37-powerpc-smp - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1
• linux-image-3.16.0-37-powerpc64-emb - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1
• linux-image-3.16.0-37-powerpc64-smp - 3.16.0-37.51~14.04.1

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

References

• https://launchpad.net/bugs/1450442