USN-3910-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

15 March 2019

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Packages

Details

It was discovered that the f2fs filesystem implementation in the Linux
kernel did not handle the noflush_merge mount option correctly. An attacker
could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash).
(CVE-2017-18241)

It was discovered that the procfs filesystem did not properly handle
processes mapping some memory elements onto files. A local attacker could
use this to block utilities that examine the procfs filesystem to report
operating system state, such as ps(1). (CVE-2018-1120)

Hui Peng and Mathias Payer discovered that the Option USB High Speed driver
in the Linux kernel did not properly validate metadata received from the
device. A physically proximate attacker could use this to cause a denial of
service (system crash). (CVE-2018-19985)

It was discovered that multiple integer overflows existed in the hugetlbfs
implementation in the Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to
cause a denial of service (system crash). (CVE-2018-7740)

Jann Horn discovered a race condition in the fork() system call in the
Linux kernel. A local attacker could use this to gain access to services
that cache authorizations. (CVE-2019-6133)

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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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