(RHSA-2015:0695) Important: kernel security and bug fix update

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

• A flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel’s SCTP implementation
  validated INIT chunks when performing Address Configuration Change
  (ASCONF). A remote attacker could use this flaw to crash the system by
  sending a specially crafted SCTP packet to trigger a NULL pointer
  dereference on the system. (CVE-2014-7841, Important)

• It was found that the Linux kernel’s Infiniband subsystem did not
  properly sanitize input parameters while registering memory regions from
  user space via the (u)verbs API. A local user with access to a
  /dev/infiniband/uverbsX device could use this flaw to crash the system or,
  potentially, escalate their privileges on the system. (CVE-2014-8159,
  Important)

• An integer overflow flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel’s Frame
  Buffer device implementation mapped kernel memory to user space via the
  mmap syscall. A local user able to access a frame buffer device file
  (/dev/fb*) could possibly use this flaw to escalate their privileges on the
  system. (CVE-2013-2596, Important)

• It was found that the parse_rock_ridge_inode_internal() function of the
  Linux kernel’s ISOFS implementation did not correctly check relocated
  directories when processing Rock Ridge child link (CL) tags. An attacker
  with physical access to the system could use a specially crafted ISO image
  to crash the system or, potentially, escalate their privileges on the
  system. (CVE-2014-5471, CVE-2014-5472, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Mellanox for reporting the CVE-2014-8159 issue.
The CVE-2014-7841 issue was discovered by Liu Wei of Red Hat.

This update also fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, certain network device drivers did not accept ethtool
  commands right after they were loaded. As a consequence, the current
  setting of the specified device driver was not applied and an error message
  was returned. The ETHTOOL_DELAY variable has been added, which makes sure
  the ethtool utility waits for some time before it tries to apply the
  options settings, thus fixing the bug. (BZ#1138299)

• During the memory allocation for a new socket to communicate to the
  server, the rpciod daemon released a clean page which needed to be
  committed. However, the commit was queueing indefinitely as the commit
  could only be provided with a socket connection. As a consequence, a
  deadlock occurred in rpciod. This update sets the PF_FSTRANS flag on the
  work queue task prior to the socket allocation, and adds the
  nfs_release_page check for the flag when deciding whether to make a commit
  call, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#1192326)

All kernel users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which
contain backported patches to correct these issues. The system must be
rebooted for this update to take effect.