USN-3208-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

22 February 2017

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

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Details

It was discovered that the generic SCSI block layer in the Linux kernel did
not properly restrict write operations in certain situations. A local
attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or
possibly gain administrative privileges. (CVE-2016-10088)

CAI Qian discovered that the sysctl implementation in the Linux kernel did
not properly perform reference counting in some situations. An unprivileged
attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system hang).
(CVE-2016-9191)

Jim Mattson discovered that the KVM implementation in the Linux kernel
mismanages the #BP and #OF exceptions. A local attacker in a guest virtual
machine could use this to cause a denial of service (guest OS crash).
(CVE-2016-9588)

Andy Lutomirski and Willy Tarreau discovered that the KVM implementation in
the Linux kernel did not properly emulate instructions on the SS segment
register. A local attacker in a guest virtual machine could use this to
cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) or possibly gain administrative
privileges in the guest OS. (CVE-2017-2583)

Dmitry Vyukov discovered that the KVM implementation in the Linux kernel
improperly emulated certain instructions. A local attacker could use this
to obtain sensitive information (kernel memory). (CVE-2017-2584)

It was discovered that the KLSI KL5KUSB105 serial-to-USB device driver in
the Linux kernel did not properly initialize memory related to logging. A
local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (kernel
memory). (CVE-2017-5549)

Andrey Konovalov discovered a use-after-free vulnerability in the DCCP
implementation in the Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to
cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly gain administrative
privileges. (CVE-2017-6074)

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Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 16.04

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

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