RHSA-2008:0275: Important: kernel security and bug fix update

First published: Tue May 20 2008(Updated: )

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux<br>operating system.<br>These updated packages fix the following security issues:<br><li> on AMD64 architectures, the possibility of a kernel crash was discovered</li> by testing the Linux kernel process-trace ability. This could allow a local<br>unprivileged user to cause a denial of service (kernel crash).<br>(CVE-2008-1615, Important)<br><li> on 64-bit architectures, the possibility of a timer-expiration value</li> overflow was found in the Linux kernel high-resolution timers<br>functionality, hrtimer. This could allow a local unprivileged user to setup<br>a large interval value, forcing the timer expiry value to become negative,<br>causing a denial of service (kernel hang). (CVE-2007-6712, Important)<br><li> the possibility of a kernel crash was found in the Linux kernel IPsec</li> protocol implementation, due to improper handling of fragmented ESP<br>packets. When an attacker controlling an intermediate router fragmented<br>these packets into very small pieces, it would cause a kernel crash on the<br>receiving node during packet reassembly. (CVE-2007-6282, Important)<br><li> a potential denial of service attack was discovered in the Linux kernel</li> PWC USB video driver. A local unprivileged user could use this flaw to<br>bring the kernel USB subsystem into the busy-waiting state, causing a<br>denial of service. (CVE-2007-5093, Low)<br>As well, these updated packages fix the following bugs:<br><li> in certain situations, a kernel hang and a possible panic occurred when</li> disabling the cpufreq daemon. This may have prevented system reboots from<br>completing successfully.<br><li> continual "softlockup" messages, which occurred on the guest's console</li> after a successful save and restore of a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5<br>para-virtualized guest, have been resolved.<br><li> in the previous kernel packages, the kernel may not have reclaimed NFS</li> locks after a system reboot.<br>Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 users are advised to upgrade to these updated<br>packages, which contain backported patches to resolve these issues.

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