USN-2857-2: Linux kernel (Vivid HWE) vulnerability

5 January 2016

The system could be made to run programs as an administrator.

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Releases

Packages

Details

Nathan Williams discovered that overlayfs in the Linux kernel incorrectly
handled setattr operations. A local unprivileged attacker could use this to
create files with administrative permission attributes and execute
arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

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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 14.04

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.
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

Related notices

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