7.1 - RHSA-2011:0421

Problem Description:

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues and several bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important 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 Desktop (v. 6) - i386, noarch, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) - noarch, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, noarch, ppc64, s390x, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - 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:

* A flaw was found in the sctp_icmp_proto_unreachable() function in the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation. A remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4526, Important)

* A missing boundary check was found in the dvb_ca_ioctl() function in the Linux kernel's av7110 module. On systems that use old DVB cards that require the av7110 module, a local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2011-0521, Important)

* A race condition was found in the way the Linux kernel's InfiniBand implementation set up new connections. This could allow a remote user to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2011-0695, Important)

* A heap overflow flaw in the iowarrior_write() function could allow a user with access to an IO-Warrior USB device, that supports more than 8 bytes per report, to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-4656, Moderate)

* A flaw was found in the way the Linux Ethernet bridge implementation handled certain IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) packets. A local, unprivileged user on a system that has a network interface in an Ethernet bridge could use this flaw to crash that system. (CVE-2011-0716, Moderate)

* A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Generic Receive Offload (GRO) functionality in the Linux kernel's networking implementation. If both GRO and promiscuous mode were enabled on an interface in a virtual LAN (VLAN), it could result in a denial of service when a malformed VLAN frame is received on that interface. (CVE-2011-1478, Moderate)

* A missing initialization flaw in the Linux kernel could lead to an information leak. (CVE-2010-3296, Low)

* A missing security check in the Linux kernel's implementation of the install_special_mapping() function could allow a local, unprivileged user to bypass the mmap_min_addr protection mechanism. (CVE-2010-4346, Low)

* A logic error in the orinoco_ioctl_set_auth() function in the Linux kernel's ORiNOCO wireless extensions support implementation could render TKIP countermeasures ineffective when it is enabled, as it enabled the card instead of shutting it down. (CVE-2010-4648, Low)

* A missing initialization flaw was found in the ethtool_get_regs() function in the Linux kernel's ethtool IOCTL handler. A local user who has the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability could use this flaw to cause an information leak. (CVE-2010-4655, Low)

* An information leak was found in the Linux kernel's task_show_regs() implementation. On IBM S/390 systems, a local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to read /proc/[PID]/status files, allowing them to discover the CPU register values of processes. (CVE-2011-0710, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Jens Kuehnel for reporting CVE-2011-0695; Kees Cook for reporting CVE-2010-4656 and CVE-2010-4655; Dan Rosenberg for reporting CVE-2010-3296; and Tavis Ormandy for reporting CVE-2010-4346.

This update also fixes several bugs. Documentation for these bug fixes will be available shortly from the Technical Notes document linked to in the References section.

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues, and fix the bugs noted in the Technical Notes. 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/kb/docs/DOC-11259

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/):

633149 - CVE-2010-3296 kernel: drivers/net/cxgb3/cxgb3_main.c reading uninitialized stack memory 653648 - CVE-2011-0695 kernel: panic in ib_cm:cm_work_handler 662189 - CVE-2010-4346 kernel: install_special_mapping skips security_file_mmap check 664914 - CVE-2010-4526 kernel: sctp: a race between ICMP protocol unreachable and connect() 667907 - CVE-2010-4648 kernel: orinoco: fix TKIP countermeasure behaviour 672398 - CVE-2011-0521 kernel: av7110 negative array offset 672420 - CVE-2010-4656 kernel: iowarrior usb device heap overflow 672428 - CVE-2010-4655 kernel: heap contents leak for CAP_NET_ADMIN via ethtool ioctl 677850 - CVE-2011-0710 kernel: s390 task_show_regs infoleak 678169 - CVE-2011-0716 kernel: deficiency in processing igmp host membership reports in br_multicast 678558 - virtio_console driver never returns from selecting for write when the queue is full [rhel-6.0.z] 678559 - Disallow 0-sized writes to virtio ports to go through to host (leading to VM crash) [rhel-6.0.z] 678562 - writing to a virtio serial port while no one is listening on the host side hangs the guest [rhel-6.0.z] 680080 - Start multi RHEL5.5 64 bit guests triggers rtl8169_interrupt hang [rhel-6.0.z] 683442 - backport set_iounmap_nonlazy() to speedup reading of /proc/vmcore [rhel-6.0.z] 683445 - Backport upstream cacheing fix for optimizing reads from /proc/vmcore [rhel-6.0.z] 683781 - kvm: guest stale memory after migration [rhel-6.0.z] 683783 - guest kernel panic when boot with nmi_watchdog=1 [rhel-6.0.z] 683822 - kernel: restrict unprivileged access to kernel syslog [rhel-6.1] [rhel-6.0.z] 684267 - kernel: missing CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM=y in S390x [rhel-6.0.z] 684268 - virtio_net: missing schedule on oom [rhel-6.0.z] 691270 - CVE-2011-1478 kernel: gro: reset dev and skb_iff on skb reuse