4.9 - RHSA-2013:1034

Problem Description:

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and various bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having low security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) - i386, ia64, noarch, ppc, s390x, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) - i386, noarch, x86_64

3. Description:

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues:

* Information leaks in the Linux kernel could allow a local, unprivileged user to leak kernel memory to user-space. (CVE-2012-6544, CVE-2012-6545, CVE-2013-3222, CVE-2013-3224, CVE-2013-3231, CVE-2013-3235, Low)

* An information leak was found in the Linux kernel's POSIX signals implementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to bypass the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) security feature. (CVE-2013-0914, Low)

* A heap-based buffer overflow in the way the tg3 Ethernet driver parsed the vital product data (VPD) of devices could allow an attacker with physical access to a system to cause a denial of service or, potentially, escalate their privileges. (CVE-2013-1929, Low)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

* Previously on system boot, devices with associated Reserved Memory Region Reporting (RMRR) information had lost their RMRR information after they were removed from the static identity (SI) domain. Consequently, a system unexpectedly terminated in an endless loop due to unexpected NMIs triggered by DMA errors. This problem was observed on HP ProLiant Generation 7 (G7) and 8 (Gen8) systems. This update prevents non-USB devices that have RMRR information associated with them from being placed into the SI domain during system boot. HP ProLiant G7 and Gen8 systems that contain devices with the RMRR information now boot as expected. (BZ#957606)

* Previously, the kernel's futex wait code used timeouts that had granularity in milliseconds. Also, when passing these timeouts to system calls, the kernel converted the timeouts to "jiffies". Consequently, programs could time out inaccurately which could lead to significant latency problems in certain environments. This update modifies the futex wait code to use a high-resolution timer (hrtimer) so the timeout granularity is now in microseconds. Timeouts are no longer converted to "jiffies" when passed to system calls. Timeouts passed to programs are now accurate and the programs time out as expected. (BZ#958021)

* A recent change modified the size of the task_struct structure in the floating point unit (fpu) counter. However, on Intel Itanium systems, this change caused the kernel Application Binary Interface (kABI) to stop working properly when a previously compiled module was loaded, resulting in a kernel panic. With this update the change causing this bug has been reverted so the bug can no longer occur. (BZ#966878)

* The cxgb4 driver previously did not clear data structures used for firmware requests. Consequently, when initializing some Chelsio's Terminator 4 (T4) adapters, a probe request could fail because the request was incompatible with the adapter's firmware. This update modifies the cxgb4 driver to properly initialize firmware request structures before sending a request to the firmware and the problem no longer occurs. (BZ#971872)

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

4. Solution:

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at https://access.redhat.com/knowledge/articles/11258

To install kernel packages manually, use "rpm -ivh [package]". Do not use "rpm -Uvh" as that will remove the running kernel binaries from your system. You may use "rpm -e" to remove old kernels after determining that the new kernel functions properly on your system.

5. Bugs fixed (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/):

920499 - CVE-2013-0914 Kernel: sa_restorer information leak 922404 - CVE-2012-6545 Kernel: Bluetooth: RFCOMM - information leak 922414 - CVE-2012-6544 Kernel: Bluetooth: HCI & L2CAP information leaks 949932 - CVE-2013-1929 Kernel: tg3: buffer overflow in VPD firmware parsing 955216 - CVE-2013-3222 Kernel: atm: update msg_namelen in vcc_recvmsg() 955599 - CVE-2013-3224 Kernel: Bluetooth: possible info leak in bt_sock_recvmsg() 956094 - CVE-2013-3231 Kernel: llc: Fix missing msg_namelen update in llc_ui_recvmsg 956145 - CVE-2013-3235 Kernel: tipc: info leaks via msg_name in recv_msg/recv_stream