USN-3509-2: Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerabilities

7 December 2017

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux 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

  • linux-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
  • linux-lts-xenial - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Xenial for Trusty

Details

USN-3509-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 16.04
LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux
Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for Ubuntu
14.04 LTS.

Mohamed Ghannam discovered that a use-after-free vulnerability existed in
the Netlink subsystem (XFRM) in the Linux kernel. A local attacker could
use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute
arbitrary code. (CVE-2017-16939)

It was discovered that the Linux kernel did not properly handle copy-on-
write of transparent huge pages. A local attacker could use this to cause a
denial of service (application crashes) or possibly gain administrative
privileges. (CVE-2017-1000405)

Fan Wu, Haoran Qiu, and Shixiong Zhao discovered that the associative array
implementation in the Linux kernel sometimes did not properly handle adding
a new entry. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2017-12193)

Andrey Konovalov discovered an out-of-bounds read in the GTCO digitizer USB
driver for the Linux kernel. A physically proximate attacker could use this
to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary
code. (CVE-2017-16643)

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 14.04

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