1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-2841-1

USN-2841-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Publication date

17 December 2015

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Releases

Packages

Details

Jan Beulich discovered that the KVM svm hypervisor implementation in the
Linux kernel did not properly catch Debug exceptions on AMD processors. An
attacker in a guest virtual machine could use this to cause a denial of
service (system crash) in the host OS. (CVE-2015-8104)

郭永刚 discovered that the ppp implementation in the Linux kernel did
not ensure that certain slot numbers are valid. A local attacker with the
privilege to call ioctl() on /dev/ppp could cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2015-7799)

It was discovered that the driver for Digi Neo and ClassicBoard devices did
not properly initialize data structures. A local attacker could use this to
obtain sensitive information from the kernel. (CVE-2015-7885)

Jan Beulich discovered that the KVM svm hypervisor implementation in the
Linux kernel did not properly catch Debug exceptions on AMD processors. An
attacker in a guest virtual machine could use this to cause a denial of
service (system crash) in the host OS. (CVE-2015-8104)

郭永刚 discovered that the ppp implementation in the Linux kernel did
not ensure that certain slot numbers are valid. A local attacker with the
privilege to call ioctl() on /dev/ppp could cause a denial of service
(system crash). (CVE-2015-7799)

It was discovered that the driver for Digi Neo and ClassicBoard devices did
not properly initialize data structures. A local attacker could use this to
obtain sensitive information from the kernel. (CVE-2015-7885)

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
14.04 trusty linux-image-3.13.0-73-generic –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-generic-lpae –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-lowlatency –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-powerpc-e500 –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-powerpc-e500mc –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-powerpc-smp –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-powerpc64-emb –  3.13.0-73.116
linux-image-3.13.0-73-powerpc64-smp –  3.13.0-73.116

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 ›