USN-6646-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

20 February 2024

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Releases

Packages

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

Details

It was discovered that a race condition existed in the ATM (Asynchronous
Transfer Mode) subsystem of the Linux kernel, leading to a use-after-free
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-51780)

It was discovered that a race condition existed in the Rose X.25 protocol
implementation in the Linux kernel, leading to a use-after- free
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-51782)

It was discovered that the netfilter connection tracker for netlink in the
Linux kernel did not properly perform reference counting in some error
conditions. A local attacker could possibly use this to cause a denial of
service (memory exhaustion). (CVE-2023-7192)

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 16.04
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.