USN-6537-1: Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities

6 December 2023

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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

Releases

Packages

  • linux-gcp - Linux kernel for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) systems

Details

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)

Bien Pham discovered that the netfiler subsystem in the Linux kernel
contained a race condition, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A
local user could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or
possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-4244)

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)

Yikebaer Aizezi discovered that the ext4 file system implementation in the
Linux kernel contained a use-after-free vulnerability when handling inode
extent metadata. An attacker could use this to construct a malicious ext4
file system image that, when mounted, could cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2023-45898)

Maxim Levitsky discovered that the KVM nested virtualization (SVM)
implementation for AMD processors in the Linux kernel did not properly
handle x2AVIC MSRs. An attacker in a guest VM could use this to cause a
denial of service (host kernel crash). (CVE-2023-5090)

Jason Wang discovered that the virtio ring implementation in the Linux
kernel did not properly handle iov buffers in some situations. A local
attacker in a guest VM could use this to cause a denial of service (host
system crash). (CVE-2023-5158)

Alon Zahavi discovered that the NVMe-oF/TCP subsystem in the Linux kernel
did not properly handle queue initialization failures in certain
situations, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A remote attacker
could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly
execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-5178)

It was discovered that the SMB network file sharing protocol implementation
in the Linux kernel did not properly handle certain error conditions,
leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this
to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary
code. (CVE-2023-5345)

Murray McAllister discovered that the VMware Virtual GPU DRM driver in the
Linux kernel did not properly handle memory objects when storing surfaces,
leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker in a guest VM
could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly
execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-5633)

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 23.10

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.