(RHSA-2008:0585) Important: kernel security and bug fix update

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

These updated packages fix the following security issues:

• the possibility of a timeout value overflow was found in the Linux kernel
  high-resolution timers functionality, hrtimer. This could allow a local
  unprivileged user to execute arbitrary code, or cause a denial of service
  (kernel panic). (CVE-2007-5966, Important)

• the possibility of a kernel crash was found in the Linux kernel IPsec
  protocol implementation, due to improper handling of fragmented ESP
  packets. When an attacker controlling an intermediate router fragmented
  these packets into very small pieces, it would cause a kernel crash on the
  receiving node during packet reassembly. (CVE-2007-6282, Important)

• on 64-bit architectures, the possibility of a timer-expiration value
  overflow was found in the Linux kernel high-resolution timers
  functionality, hrtimer. This could allow a local unprivileged user to set
  up a large interval value, forcing the timer expiry value to become
  negative, causing a denial of service (kernel hang).
  (CVE-2007-6712, Important)

• on AMD64 architectures, the possibility of a kernel crash was discovered
  by testing the Linux kernel process-trace ability. This could allow a local
  unprivileged user to cause a denial of service (kernel crash).
  (CVE-2008-1615, 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)

• a flaw was found in the Linux kernel utimensat system call. File
  permissions were not checked when UTIME_NOW and UTIME_OMIT combinations
  were used. This could allow a local unprivileged user to modify file times
  of arbitrary files, possibly leading to a denial of service.
  (CVE-2008-2148, Important)

• a security flaw was found in the Linux kernel memory copy routines, when
  running on certain AMD64 architectures. If an unsuccessful attempt to copy
  kernel memory from source to destination memory locations occurred, the
  copy routines did not zero the content at the destination memory location.
  This could allow a local unprivileged user to view potentially sensitive
  data. (CVE-2008-2729, Important)

• Gabriel Campana discovered a possible integer overflow flaw in the Linux
  kernel Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation. This
  deficiency could lead to privilege escalation. (CVE-2008-2826, Important)

• a deficiency was found in the Linux kernel virtual memory implementation.
  This could allow a local unprivileged user to make a large number of calls
  to the get_user_pages function, possibly causing a denial of service.
  (CVE-2008-2372, Low)

Also, these updated packages fix the following bugs:

• gdb set orig_rax to 0x00000000ffffffff, which is recognized by the
  upstream kernel as “-1”, but not by the Red Hat Enterprise MRG kernel.

• if the POSIX timer was programmed to fire immediately, the timer’s
  signal was sometimes not delivered (timer does not fire).

• rwlock caused crashes and application hangs.

• running oprofile caused system panics.

• threads releasing a mutex may have received an EPERM error.

• booting the RT kernel with the “nmi_watchdog=2” kernel option caused a
  kernel panic, and an “Unable to handle kernel paging request” error.

• “echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online” caused crashes.

• a crash on a JTC machine.

• added a new “FUTEX_WAIT_BITSET” system call, identical to FUTEX_WAIT,
  that accepts absolute time as a timeout.

Red Hat Enterprise MRG 1.0 users are advised to upgrade to these updated
packages, which contain backported patches to resolve these issues.