USN-3910-2: Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerabilities

15 March 2019

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Releases

Packages

  • linux-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
  • linux-lts-xenial - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Xenial for Trusty

Details

USN-3910-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 16.04
LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux
Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for Ubuntu
14.04 LTS.

It was discovered that the f2fs filesystem implementation in the Linux
kernel did not handle the noflush_merge mount option correctly. An attacker
could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash).
(CVE-2017-18241)

It was discovered that the procfs filesystem did not properly handle
processes mapping some memory elements onto files. A local attacker could
use this to block utilities that examine the procfs filesystem to report
operating system state, such as ps(1). (CVE-2018-1120)

Hui Peng and Mathias Payer discovered that the Option USB High Speed driver
in the Linux kernel did not properly validate metadata received from the
device. A physically proximate attacker could use this to cause a denial of
service (system crash). (CVE-2018-19985)

It was discovered that multiple integer overflows existed in the hugetlbfs
implementation in the Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to
cause a denial of service (system crash). (CVE-2018-7740)

Jann Horn discovered a race condition in the fork() system call in the
Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to gain access to services
that cache authorizations. (CVE-2019-6133)

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Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 14.04

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all 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.
Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages
(e.g. linux-generic, linux-generic-lts-RELEASE, linux-virtual,
linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform
this as well.

References

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