RHSA-2009:1635: Important: kernel-rt security, bug fix, and enhancement update

The kernel-rt packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linuxoperating system.These updated packages fix the following security issues: a NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the NFSv4 implementation in the Linux kernel. Several of the NFSv4 file locking functions failed tocheck whether a file had been opened on the server before performinglocking operations on it. A local user on a system with an NFSv4 sharemounted could possibly use this flaw to cause a denial of service orescalate their privileges. (CVE-2009-3726, Important) permission issues were found in the megaraidsas driver (for SAS based RAID controllers) in the Linux kernel. The "dbglvl" and "pollmodeio"files on the sysfs file system ("/sys/") had world-writable permissions.This could allow local, unprivileged users to change the behavior of thedriver. (CVE-2009-3889, CVE-2009-3939, Moderate)These updated packages also fix the following bugs: a problem existed with the i5000edac driver under some topologies. In some cases, this driver failed to export memory devices via sysfs,preventing the ibm-prtm service from starting. With this update, the memorydevices are accessible, allowing the ibm-prtm service to start, andtherefore perform SMI remediation as expected. (BZ#527421) the "/proc/sys/vm/mmapminaddr" tunable helps prevent unprivileged users from creating new memory mappings below the minimum address. Thesysctl value for mmapminaddr could be changed by a process or user thathas an effective user ID (euid) of 0, even if the process or user does nothave the CAPSYSRAWIO capability. This update adds a capability check forthe CAPSYSRAWIO capability before allowing the mmapminaddr value to bechanged. (BZ#534019)As well, these updated packages add the following enhancements: the Intel ixgbe driver was updated to upstream version 2.0.16-k2. (BZ#537505) the InfiniBand OFED driver was updated to upstream version 1.4.1. (BZ#537500)Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backportedpatches to correct these issues and add these enhancements. The system mustbe rebooted for this update to take effect.