USN-6532-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

5 December 2023

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Releases

Packages

  • linux - Linux kernel
  • linux-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
  • linux-kvm - Linux kernel for cloud environments
  • linux-lts-xenial - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Xenial for Trusty

Details

Tavis Ormandy discovered that some AMD processors did not properly handle
speculative execution of certain vector register instructions. A local
attacker could use this to expose sensitive information. (CVE-2023-20593)

Yu Hao discovered that the UBI driver in the Linux kernel did not properly
check for MTD with zero erasesize during device attachment. A local
privileged attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system
crash). (CVE-2023-31085)

Lucas Leong discovered that the netfilter subsystem in the Linux kernel did
not properly validate some attributes passed from userspace. A local
attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or
possibly expose sensitive information (kernel memory). (CVE-2023-39189)

Sunjoo Park discovered that the netfilter subsystem in the Linux kernel did
not properly validate u32 packets content, leading to an out-of-bounds read
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly expose sensitive information. (CVE-2023-39192)

Lucas Leong discovered that the netfilter subsystem in the Linux kernel did
not properly validate SCTP data, leading to an out-of-bounds read
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly expose sensitive information. (CVE-2023-39193)

Lucas Leong discovered that the Netlink Transformation (XFRM) subsystem in
the Linux kernel did not properly handle state filters, leading to an out-
of-bounds read vulnerability. A privileged local attacker could use this to
cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly expose sensitive
information. (CVE-2023-39194)

Kyle Zeng discovered that the IPv4 implementation in the Linux kernel did
not properly handle socket buffers (skb) when performing IP routing in
certain circumstances, leading to a null pointer dereference vulnerability.
A privileged attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system
crash). (CVE-2023-42754)

It was discovered that the USB ENE card reader driver in the Linux kernel
did not properly allocate enough memory when processing the storage device
boot blocks. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2023-45862)

Manfred Rudigier discovered that the Intel(R) PCI-Express Gigabit (igb)
Ethernet driver in the Linux kernel did not properly validate received
frames that are larger than the set MTU size, leading to a buffer overflow
vulnerability. An attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-45871)

Budimir Markovic discovered that the perf subsystem in the Linux kernel did
not properly handle event groups, leading to an out-of-bounds write
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-5717)

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.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 16.04
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.