(RHSA-2005:284) kernel security update

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

This is the seventh regular kernel update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

The following security updates were made:

A flaw in fragment queuing was discovered that affected the Linux 2.4 and
Linux 2.6 kernel netfilter subsystem. On systems configured to filter or
process network packets (for example, those configured to do firewalling),
a remote attacker could send a carefully crafted set of fragmented packets
to a machine and cause a denial of service (system crash). In order to
sucessfully exploit this flaw, the attacker would need to know (or guess)
some aspects of the firewall ruleset in place on the target system to be
able to craft the right fragmented packets. (CAN-2005-0449)

A flaw was discovered in the Linux PPP driver. On systems allowing remote
users to connect to a server using ppp, a remote client could cause a
denial of service (system crash). (CAN-2005-0384)

A flaw was discovered in the bluetooth driver system. On systems where the
bluetooth modules are loaded, a local user could use this flaw to gain
elevated (root) privileges. (CAN-2005-0750)

Keith Owens reported a flaw in the Itanium unw_unwind_to_user() function.
A local user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service (system
crash). (CAN-2005-0135)

A missing Itanium syscall table entry could allow an unprivileged
local user to cause a denial of service (system crash). (CAN-2005-0137)

There were several bug fixes in various parts of the kernel. The ongoing
effort to resolve these problems has resulted in a marked improvement
in the reliability and scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1.

Bug fixes for this release include:

• Fixes an incorrect test in RPC for SYN packets when reconnecting
  an idle TCP link
• Fixes a memory-corruption bug in the DMA path that can cause
  system hangs or unpredictable behavior under heavy I/O load
• Adds new devices to the SCSI scan list so they can
  be initialized and handled properly: LSI ProFibre 4000R, HP
  HSV200/210, HP MSA, STK OPENstorage D178.
• Fixes a hang under heavy I/O load in the qla1280 driver
• Fixes a panic in disk quota code
• Fixes a potential format overflow in /proc/partitions
• Fixes ipvs calls to ip_defrag()

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users are advised to upgrade their
kernels to the packages associated with their machine architectures
and configurations as listed in this erratum.

Please note that a vulnerability addressed by this update (CAN-2005-0449)
required a change to the kernel module ABI which could cause third party
modules to not work. However, Red Hat is currently not aware of any module
that would be affected by this change.