USN-3168-2: Linux kernel (Trusty HWE) vulnerabilities

11 January 2017

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Releases

Packages

Details

USN-3168-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 14.04
LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux
Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS for Ubuntu
12.04 LTS.

Dmitry Vyukov discovered that the KVM implementation in the Linux kernel
did not properly initialize the Code Segment (CS) in certain error cases. A
local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (kernel
memory). (CVE-2016-9756)

Andrey Konovalov discovered that signed integer overflows existed in the
setsockopt() system call when handling the SO_SNDBUFFORCE and
SO_RCVBUFFORCE options. A local attacker with the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability
could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash or memory
corruption). (CVE-2016-9793)

Baozeng Ding discovered a race condition that could lead to a use-after-
free in the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) subsystem of the Linux
kernel. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2016-9794)

Baozeng Ding discovered a double free in the netlink_dump() function in the
Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2016-9806)

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 12.04

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.

ATTENTION: Due to an unavoidable ABI change the kernel updates have
been given a new version number, which requires you to recompile and
reinstall all third party kernel modules you might have installed.
Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages
(e.g. linux-generic, linux-generic-lts-RELEASE, linux-virtual,
linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform
this as well.

References

Related notices

Join the discussion

Need help with your security needs?

Ubuntu Pro provides up to ten-year security coverage for over 23,000 open-source packages within the Ubuntu Main and Universe repositories.

Talk to an expert to find out what would work best for you

Further reading