1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-2177-1

USN-2177-1: Linux kernel (Saucy HWE) vulnerabilities

Publication date

26 April 2014

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Releases

Packages

Details

A flaw was discovered in the Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) subsystem of the
Linux kernel. A guest OS user could exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary
code on the host OS. (CVE-2014-0049)

Al Viro discovered an error in how CIFS in the Linux kernel handles
uncached write operations. An unprivileged local user could exploit this
flaw to cause a denial of service (system crash), obtain sensitive
information from kernel memory, or possibly gain privileges.
(CVE-2014-0069)

Jouni Malinen reported a flaw in the handling of fragmentation in the
mac8Linux subsystem of the kernel. A remote attacker could exploit this
flaw to obtain potential sensitive cleartext information by reading
packets. (CVE-2014-8709)

A flaw was discovered in the Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) subsystem of the
Linux kernel. A guest OS user could exploit this flaw to execute arbitrary
code on the host OS. (CVE-2014-0049)

Al Viro discovered an error in how CIFS in the Linux kernel handles
uncached write operations. An unprivileged local user could exploit this
flaw to cause a denial of service (system crash), obtain sensitive
information from kernel memory, or possibly gain privileges.
(CVE-2014-0069)

Jouni Malinen reported a flaw in the handling of fragmentation in the
mac8Linux subsystem of the kernel. A remote attacker could exploit this
flaw to obtain potential sensitive cleartext information by reading
packets. (CVE-2014-8709)

Update instructions

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

Learn more about how to get the fixes.

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. If you use linux-restricted-modules, you have to update that package as well to get modules which work with the new kernel version. Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic, linux-server, linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform this as well.

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

Ubuntu Release Package Version
12.04 precise linux-image-3.11.0-20-generic-lpae –  3.11.0-20.34~precise1
linux-image-3.11.0-20-generic –  3.11.0-20.34~precise1

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.

Get Ubuntu Pro

References

Have additional questions?

Talk to a member of the team ›