kernel security update

CentOS Errata and Security Advisory CESA-2009:0473

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux
operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues:

• a logic error was found in the do_setlk() function of the Linux kernel
  Network File System (NFS) implementation. If a signal interrupted a lock
  request, the local POSIX lock was incorrectly created. This could cause a
  denial of service on the NFS server if a file descriptor was closed before
  its corresponding lock request returned. (CVE-2008-4307, Important)

• a deficiency was found in the Linux kernel system call auditing
  implementation on 64-bit systems. This could allow a local, unprivileged
  user to circumvent a system call audit configuration, if that configuration
  filtered based on the “syscall” number or arguments.
  (CVE-2009-0834, Important)

• the exit_notify() function in the Linux kernel did not properly reset the
  exit signal if a process executed a set user ID (setuid) application before
  exiting. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to elevate their
  privileges. (CVE-2009-1337, Important)

• a flaw was found in the ecryptfs_write_metadata_to_contents() function of
  the Linux kernel eCryptfs implementation. On systems with a 4096 byte
  page-size, this flaw may have caused 4096 bytes of uninitialized kernel
  memory to be written into the eCryptfs file headers, leading to an
  information leak. Note: Encrypted files created on systems running the
  vulnerable version of eCryptfs may contain leaked data in the eCryptfs file
  headers. This update does not remove any leaked data. Refer to the
  Knowledgebase article in the References section for further information.
  (CVE-2009-0787, Moderate)

• the Linux kernel implementation of the Network File System (NFS) did not
  properly initialize the file name limit in the nfs_server data structure.
  This flaw could possibly lead to a denial of service on a client mounting
  an NFS share. (CVE-2009-1336, Moderate)

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• the enic driver (Cisco 10G Ethernet) did not operate under
  virtualization. (BZ#472474)

• network interfaces using the IBM eHEA Ethernet device driver could not be
  successfully configured under low-memory conditions. (BZ#487035)

• bonding with the “arp_validate=3” option may have prevented fail overs.
  (BZ#488064)

• when running under virtualization, the acpi-cpufreq module wrote “Domain
  attempted WRMSR” errors to the dmesg log. (BZ#488928)

• NFS clients may have experienced deadlocks during unmount. (BZ#488929)

• the ixgbe driver double counted the number of received bytes and packets.
  (BZ#489459)

• the Wacom Intuos3 Lens Cursor device did not work correctly with the
  Wacom Intuos3 12x12 tablet. (BZ#489460)

• on the Itanium® architecture, nanosleep() caused commands which used it,
  such as sleep and usleep, to sleep for one second more than expected.
  (BZ#490434)

• a panic and corruption of slab cache data structures occurred on 64-bit
  PowerPC systems when clvmd was running. (BZ#491677)

• the NONSTOP_TSC feature did not perform correctly on the Intel®
  microarchitecture (Nehalem) when running in 32-bit mode. (BZ#493356)

• keyboards may not have functioned on IBM eServer System p machines after
  a certain point during installation or afterward. (BZ#494293)

• using Device Mapper Multipathing with the qla2xxx driver resulted in
  frequent path failures. (BZ#495635)

• if the hypervisor was booted with the dom0_max_vcpus parameter set to
  less than the actual number of CPUs in the system, and the cpuspeed service
  was started, the hypervisor could crash. (BZ#495931)

• using Openswan to provide an IPsec virtual private network eventually
  resulted in a CPU soft lockup and a system crash. (BZ#496044)

• it was possible for posix_locks_deadlock() to enter an infinite loop
  (under the BKL), causing a system hang. (BZ#496842)

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported
patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for this
update to take effect.

Merged security bulletin from advisories:
https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-May/078006.html
https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2009-May/078007.html

Affected packages:
kernel
kernel-PAE
kernel-PAE-devel
kernel-debug
kernel-debug-devel
kernel-devel
kernel-doc
kernel-headers
kernel-xen
kernel-xen-devel

Upstream details at:
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2009:0473