USN-4576-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

14 October 2020

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Releases

Packages

Details

Hadar Manor discovered that the DCCP protocol implementation in the Linux
kernel improperly handled socket reuse, leading to a use-after-free
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2020-16119)

Jay Shin discovered that the ext4 file system implementation in the Linux
kernel did not properly handle directory access with broken indexing,
leading to an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. A local attacker could use
this to cause a denial of service (system crash). (CVE-2020-14314)

David Alan Gilbert discovered that the XFS file system implementation in
the Linux kernel did not properly perform metadata validation in some
circumstances. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of
service. (CVE-2020-14385)

Giuseppe Scrivano discovered that the overlay file system in the Linux
kernel did not properly perform permission checks in some situations. A
local attacker could possibly use this to bypass intended restrictions and
gain read access to restricted files. (CVE-2020-16120)

It was discovered that a race condition existed in the hugetlb sysctl
implementation in the Linux kernel. A privileged attacker could use this to
cause a denial of service (system crash). (CVE-2020-25285)

It was discovered that the block layer subsystem in the Linux kernel did
not properly handle zero-length requests. A local attacker could use this
to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2020-25641)

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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.

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Update instructions

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

Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 18.04

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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