6.9 - RHSA-2015:0919

Problem Description:

Updated kernel packages that fix one security issue are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 Long Life.

Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having Important security impact. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available from the CVE link in the References section.

2. Relevant releases/architectures:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux LL (v. 5.6 server) - i386, ia64, noarch, x86_64

3. Description:

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

* It was found that the Linux kernel's Infiniband subsystem did not properly sanitize input parameters while registering memory regions from user space via the (u)verbs API. A local user with access to a /dev/infiniband/uverbsX device could use this flaw to crash the system or, potentially, escalate their privileges on the system. (CVE-2014-8159, Important)

Red Hat would like to thank Mellanox for reporting this issue.

All kernel users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain a backported patch to correct this issue. 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.

For details on how to apply this update, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

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

1181166 - CVE-2014-8159 kernel: infiniband: uverbs: unprotected physical memory access