7.8 - RHSA-2014:1167

Problem Description:

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

Red Hat Product Security 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 Desktop Optional (v. 6) - i386, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) - noarch, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) - x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) - i386, noarch, ppc64, s390x, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) - i386, ppc64, s390x, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) - i386, noarch, x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) - i386, x86_64

3. Description:

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

* A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's futex subsystem handled reference counting when requeuing futexes during futex_wait(). A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to zero out the reference counter of an inode or an mm struct that backs up the memory area of the futex, which could lead to a use-after-free flaw, resulting in a system crash or, potentially, privilege escalation. (CVE-2014-0205, Important)

* A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's networking implementation handled logging while processing certain invalid packets coming in via a VxLAN interface. A remote attacker could use this flaw to crash the system by sending a specially crafted packet to such an interface. (CVE-2014-3535, Important)

* An out-of-bounds memory access flaw was found in the Linux kernel's system call auditing implementation. On a system with existing audit rules defined, a local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to leak kernel memory to user space or, potentially, crash the system. (CVE-2014-3917, Moderate)

* An integer underflow flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation processed certain COOKIE_ECHO packets. By sending a specially crafted SCTP packet, a remote attacker could use this flaw to prevent legitimate connections to a particular SCTP server socket to be made. (CVE-2014-4667, Moderate)

Red Hat would like to thank Gopal Reddy Kodudula of Nokia Siemens Networks for reporting CVE-2014-4667. The security impact of the CVE-2014-0205 issue was discovered by Mateusz Guzik of Red Hat.

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

All kernel users are advised to 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/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 (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/):

1094455 - CVE-2014-0205 kernel: futex: refcount issue in case of requeue 1102571 - CVE-2014-3917 kernel: DoS with syscall auditing 1113967 - CVE-2014-4667 kernel: sctp: sk_ack_backlog wrap-around problem 1114540 - CVE-2014-3535 Kernel: netdevice.h: NULL pointer dereference over VxLAN