RHSA-2008:0973: Important: kernel security and bug fix update

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linuxoperating system.This update addresses the following security issues: Tavis Ormandy discovered a deficiency in the Linux kernel 32-bit and 64-bit emulation. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to prepareand run a specially-crafted binary which would use this deficiency to leakuninitialized and potentially sensitive data. (CVE-2008-0598, Important) a possible kernel memory leak was found in the Linux kernel Simple Internet Transition (SIT) INET6 implementation. This could allow a local,unprivileged user to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2008-2136, Important) missing capability checks were found in the SBNI WAN driver which could allow a local user to bypass intended capability restrictions.(CVE-2008-3525, Important) the dotruncate() and genericfilesplicewrite() functions did not clear the setuid and setgid bits. This could allow a local, unprivileged user toobtain access to privileged information. (CVE-2008-4210, Important) a buffer overflow flaw was found in Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) subsystem. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause adenial of service. (CVE-2007-6063, Moderate) multiple NULL pointer dereferences were found in various Linux kernel network drivers. These drivers were missing checks for terminal validity,which could allow privilege escalation. (CVE-2008-2812, Moderate) a deficiency was found in the Linux kernel virtual filesystem (VFS) implementation. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to attempt filecreation within deleted directories, possibly causing a denial of service.(CVE-2008-3275, Moderate)This update also fixes the following bugs: the incorrect kunmap function was used in nfsxdrreadlinkres. kunmap() was used where kunmapatomic() should have been. As a consequence, if anNFSv2 or NFSv3 server exported a volume containing a symlink which includeda path equal to or longer than the local system's PATHMAX, accessing thelink caused a kernel oops. This has been corrected in this update. mptctlgettargetinfo did not check if pIoc3 was NULL before using it as a pointer. This caused a kernel panic in mptctlgettargetinfo in somecircumstances. A check has been added which prevents this. lost tick compensation code in the timer interrupt routine triggered without apparent cause. When running as a fully-virtualized client, thisspurious triggering caused the 64-bit version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3to present highly inaccurate times. With this update the lost tickcompensation code is turned off when the operating system is running as afully-virtualized client under Xen or VMWare®.All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 users should install this updated kernelwhich addresses these vulnerabilities and fixes these bugs.