USN-2464-1: Linux kernel (OMAP4) vulnerabilities

Publication date

13 January 2015

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Releases


Packages

Details

Andy Lutomirski discovered that the Linux kernel does not properly handle
faults associated with the Stack Segment (SS) register in the x86
architecture. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to gain
administrative privileges. (CVE-2014-9322)

An information leak in the Linux kernel was discovered that could leak the
high 16 bits of the kernel stack address on 32-bit Kernel Virtual Machine
(KVM) paravirt guests. A user in the guest OS could exploit this leak to
obtain information that could potentially be used to aid in attacking the
kernel. (CVE-2014-8134)

A race condition with MMIO and PIO transactions in the KVM (Kernel Virtual
Machine) subsystem of the Linux kernel was discovered. A guest OS user
could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) via a
specially crafted application. (

Andy Lutomirski discovered that the Linux kernel does not properly handle
faults associated with the Stack Segment (SS) register in the x86
architecture. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to gain
administrative privileges. (CVE-2014-9322)

An information leak in the Linux kernel was discovered that could leak the
high 16 bits of the kernel stack address on 32-bit Kernel Virtual Machine
(KVM) paravirt guests. A user in the guest OS could exploit this leak to
obtain information that could potentially be used to aid in attacking the
kernel. (CVE-2014-8134)

A race condition with MMIO and PIO transactions in the KVM (Kernel Virtual
Machine) subsystem of the Linux kernel was discovered. A guest OS user
could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) via a
specially crafted application. (CVE-2014-7842)

The KVM (kernel virtual machine) subsystem of the Linux kernel
miscalculates the number of memory pages during the handling of a mapping
failure. A guest OS user could exploit this to cause a denial of service
(host OS page unpinning) or possibly have unspecified other impact by
leveraging guest OS privileges. (CVE-2014-8369)

Andy Lutomirski discovered that the Linux kernel does not properly handle
faults associated with the Stack Segment (SS) register on the x86
architecture. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to cause a denial of
service (panic). (CVE-2014-9090)


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-3.2.0-1458-omap4 –  3.2.0-1458.78

Reduce your security exposure

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