ArsGeek

There’s an important security notice from the Ubuntu folks.  A kernel vulnerability was found.  It’s pretty much only vulnerable to local attacks but it’s always a good idea to update your boxes to the latest versions of the kernel (as noted in the below announcement) so that you reduce your vulnerability to threats.

Here’s the announcement.

=========================================================== Ubuntu Security Notice USN-637-1 August 25, 2008 linux, linux-source-2.6.15/20/22 vulnerabilities CVE-2008-2812, CVE-2008-2931, CVE-2008-3272, CVE-2008-3275 =========================================================== A security issue affects the following Ubuntu releases: Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Ubuntu 7.04 Ubuntu 7.10 Ubuntu 8.04 LTS This advisory also applies to the corresponding versions of Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu.

The problem can be corrected by upgrading your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS: linux-image-2.6.15-52-386 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-686 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-amd64-generic 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-amd64-k8 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-amd64-server 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-amd64-xeon 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-hppa32 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-hppa32-smp 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-hppa64 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-hppa64-smp 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-itanium 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-itanium-smp 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-k7 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-mckinley 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-mckinley-smp 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-powerpc 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-powerpc-smp 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-powerpc64-smp 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-server 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-server-bigiron 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-sparc64 2.6.15-52.71 linux-image-2.6.15-52-sparc64-smp 2.6.15-52.71

Ubuntu 7.04: linux-image-2.6.20-17-386 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-generic 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-hppa32 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-hppa64 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-itanium 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-lowlatency 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-mckinley 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-powerpc 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-powerpc-smp 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-powerpc64-smp 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-server 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-server-bigiron 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-sparc64 2.6.20-17.39 linux-image-2.6.20-17-sparc64-smp 2.6.20-17.39

Ubuntu 7.10: linux-image-2.6.22-15-386 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-cell 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-generic 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-hppa32 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-hppa64 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-itanium 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-lpia 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-lpiacompat 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-mckinley 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-powerpc 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-powerpc-smp 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-powerpc64-smp 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-rt 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-server 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-sparc64 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-sparc64-smp 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-ume 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-virtual 2.6.22-15.58 linux-image-2.6.22-15-xen 2.6.22-15.58

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS: linux-image-2.6.24-19-386 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-generic 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-hppa32 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-hppa64 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-itanium 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-lpia 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-lpiacompat 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-mckinley 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-openvz 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-powerpc 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-powerpc-smp 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-powerpc64-smp 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-rt 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-server 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-sparc64 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-sparc64-smp 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-virtual 2.6.24-19.41 linux-image-2.6.24-19-xen 2.6.24-19.41

After a standard system upgrade you need to reboot your computer to effect the necessary changes. Details follow: It was discovered that there were multiple NULL-pointer function dereferences in the Linux kernel terminal handling code. A local attacker could exploit this to execute arbitrary code as root, or crash the system, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-2812) The do_change_type routine did not correctly validation administrative users. A local attacker could exploit this to block mount points or cause private mounts to be shared, leading to denial of service or a possible loss of privacy. (CVE-2008-2931) Tobias Klein discovered that the OSS interface through ALSA did not correctly validate the device number. A local attacker could exploit this to access sensitive kernel memory, leading to a denial of service or a loss of privacy. (CVE-2008-3272) Zoltan Sogor discovered that new directory entries could be added to already deleted directories. A local attacker could exploit this, filling up available memory and disk space, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2008-3275) In certain situations, the fix for CVE-2008-0598 from USN-623-1 was causing infinite loops in the writev syscall. This update corrects the mistake. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Technorati Tags: ubuntu, linux, kernel, security risk, updates needed