(RHSA-2003:198) kernel security update

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system.

Al Viro found a security issue in the tty layer in which any user could
cause a kernel oops. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0247 to this issue.

A vulnerability in the kernel’s TCP/IP fragment reassembly handling allows
remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) via packets
that cause a large number of hash table collisions. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0364 to this issue.

Paul Starzetz discovered a file read race condition in the execve() system
call, which could cause a local crash. The Common Vulnerabilities and
Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0462 to
this issue.

The /proc file system under Linux allows local users to obtain sensitive
information by opening various entries in /proc/self before executing a
setuid program. This causes the program to fail to change the ownership and
permissions of already-opened entries. The Common Vulnerabilities and
Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0501 to
this issue.

The STP protocol is known to have no security, which could allow attackers
to alter the bridge topology. STP is now turned off by default. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0550 to this issue.

The STP input processing is lax in its length checking, which could lead to
a denial of service (DoS). The kernel contained in this erratum improves
STP input processing. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0551 to this issue.

Jerry Kreuscher discovered that the Forwarding table could be spoofed by
sending forged packets with bogus source addresses that are the same as the
local host. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project cve.mitre.org)
has assigned the name CAN-2003-0552 to this issue.

An integer signedness error in the decode_fh function of nfs3xdr.c allows
remote attackers to cause a denial of service (kernel panic) via a negative
size value within XDR data of an NFSv3 procedure call. The Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CAN-2003-0619 to this issue.

The C-Media PCI sound driver in unpatched kernel versions prior to 2.4.21
accesses userspace without using the get_user function, which is a
potential security hole. The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project
(cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CAN-2003-0699 to this issue.

In addition, a number of bugfixes and updates have been applied to the IA32
emulation layer.

All users should upgrade to these errata packages, which contain patches to
the 2.4.18 kernel that address these issues.