USN-715-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

29 January 2009

Linux kernel vulnerabilities

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Releases

Packages

Details

Hugo Dias discovered that the ATM subsystem did not correctly manage
socket counts. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a system hang,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-5079)

It was discovered that the inotify subsystem contained watch removal
race conditions. A local attacker could exploit this to crash the system,
leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-5182)

Dann Frazier discovered that in certain situations sendmsg did not
correctly release allocated memory. A local attacker could exploit
this to force the system to run out of free memory, leading to a denial
of service. (CVE-2008-5300)

Helge Deller discovered that PA-RISC stack unwinding was not handled
correctly. A local attacker could exploit this to crash the system,
leading do a denial of service. This did not affect official Ubuntu
kernels, but was fixed in the source for anyone performing HPPA kernel
builds. (CVE-2008-5395)

It was discovered that the ATA subsystem did not correctly set timeouts. A
local attacker could exploit this to cause a system hang, leading to a
denial of service. (CVE-2008-5700)

It was discovered that the ib700 watchdog timer did not correctly check
buffer sizes. A local attacker could send a specially crafted ioctl
to the device to cause a system crash, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2008-5702)

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 8.10

After a standard system upgrade you need to reboot your computer to
effect 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.

Related notices

  • USN-714-1: linux-source-2.6.22, linux-image-2.6.22-16-generic, linux-image-2.6.24-23-server, linux-image-2.6.24-23-powerpc64-smp, linux-image-2.6.22-16-lpia, linux-image-2.6.22-16-sparc64, linux-image-2.6.24-23-hppa32, linux-image-2.6.15-53-powerpc64-smp, linux-image-2.6.24-23-virtual, linux-image-2.6.24-23-powerpc-smp, linux-image-2.6.15-53-386, linux-image-2.6.15-53-itanium, linux-image-2.6.24-23-lpiacompat, linux-image-2.6.15-53-amd64-server, linux-image-2.6.15-53-mckinley-smp, linux-image-2.6.22-16-lpiacompat, linux-image-2.6.22-16-powerpc-smp, linux-image-2.6.22-16-cell, linux-image-2.6.22-16-powerpc, linux-image-2.6.15-53-server-bigiron, linux-image-2.6.22-16-xen, linux-image-2.6.15-53-itanium-smp, linux-image-2.6.24-23-lpia, linux-image-2.6.15-53-amd64-generic, linux-image-2.6.22-16-virtual, linux-image-2.6.24-23-xen, linux-image-2.6.24-23-itanium, linux-image-2.6.22-16-itanium, linux-image-2.6.24-23-rt, linux-image-2.6.24-23-powerpc, linux-image-2.6.24-23-openvz, linux-image-2.6.15-53-k7, linux-image-2.6.22-16-hppa64, linux-image-2.6.15-53-mckinley, linux-image-2.6.15-53-amd64-k8, linux-image-2.6.15-53-powerpc-smp, linux-image-2.6.15-53-server, linux-image-2.6.15-53-hppa64, linux-image-2.6.15-53-686, linux-image-2.6.24-23-sparc64-smp, linux-image-2.6.15-53-amd64-xeon, linux-image-2.6.15-53-hppa32-smp, linux-image-2.6.22-16-server, linux-image-2.6.24-23-mckinley, linux-image-2.6.22-16-386, linux-image-2.6.22-16-powerpc64-smp, linux-image-2.6.24-23-sparc64, linux-image-2.6.15-53-hppa32, linux, linux-image-2.6.15-53-hppa64-smp, linux-image-2.6.15-53-sparc64-smp, linux-image-2.6.22-16-hppa32, linux-image-2.6.22-16-rt, linux-image-2.6.24-23-386, linux-image-2.6.24-23-hppa64, linux-source-2.6.15, linux-image-2.6.24-23-generic, linux-image-2.6.22-16-sparc64-smp, linux-image-2.6.22-16-ume, linux-image-2.6.15-53-sparc64, linux-image-2.6.22-16-mckinley, linux-image-2.6.15-53-powerpc