1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-7148-1

USN-7148-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Publication date

10 December 2024

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Releases

Packages

  • linux - Linux kernel
  • linux-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
  • linux-kvm - Linux kernel for cloud environments
  • linux-lts-xenial - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Xenial for Trusty

Details

Lyu Tao discovered that the NFS implementation in the Linux kernel did not
properly handle requests to open a directory on a regular file. A local
attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (kernel memory).

Several security issues were discovered in the Linux kernel.
An attacker could possibly use these to compromise the system.
This update corrects flaws in the following subsystems:

  • x86 architecture;
  • ATM drivers;
  • Device frequency scaling framework;
  • GPU drivers;
  • Hardware monitoring drivers;
  • VMware VMCI Driver;
  • MTD block device drivers;
  • Network drivers;
  • Device tree and open firmware driver;
  • SCSI subsystem;
  • USB Serial drivers;
  • BTRFS file system;
  • File systems infrastructure;
  • F2FS file system;
  • JFS file system;
  • NILFS2 file system;
  • Netfilter;
  • Memory management;
  • Ethernet...

Lyu Tao discovered that the NFS implementation in the Linux kernel did not
properly handle requests to open a directory on a regular file. A local
attacker could use this to expose sensitive information (kernel memory).

Several security issues were discovered in the Linux kernel.
An attacker could possibly use these to compromise the system.
This update corrects flaws in the following subsystems:

  • x86 architecture;
  • ATM drivers;
  • Device frequency scaling framework;
  • GPU drivers;
  • Hardware monitoring drivers;
  • VMware VMCI Driver;
  • MTD block device drivers;
  • Network drivers;
  • Device tree and open firmware driver;
  • SCSI subsystem;
  • USB Serial drivers;
  • BTRFS file system;
  • File systems infrastructure;
  • F2FS file system;
  • JFS file system;
  • NILFS2 file system;
  • Netfilter;
  • Memory management;
  • Ethernet bridge;
  • IPv6 networking;
  • Logical Link layer;
  • MAC80211 subsystem;
  • NFC subsystem;
  • Network traffic control

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. 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.

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

Ubuntu Release Package Version
16.04 xenial linux-image-4.4.0-1139-kvm –  4.4.0-1139.149  
linux-image-4.4.0-1176-aws –  4.4.0-1176.191  
linux-image-4.4.0-261-generic –  4.4.0-261.295  
linux-image-4.4.0-261-lowlatency –  4.4.0-261.295  
linux-image-aws –  4.4.0.1176.180  
linux-image-generic –  4.4.0.261.267  
linux-image-generic-lts-xenial –  4.4.0.261.267  
linux-image-kvm –  4.4.0.1139.136  
linux-image-lowlatency –  4.4.0.261.267  
linux-image-lowlatency-lts-xenial –  4.4.0.261.267  
linux-image-virtual –  4.4.0.261.267  
linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial –  4.4.0.261.267  
14.04 trusty linux-image-4.4.0-1138-aws –  4.4.0-1138.144  
linux-image-4.4.0-261-generic –  4.4.0-261.295~14.04.1  
linux-image-4.4.0-261-lowlatency –  4.4.0-261.295~14.04.1  
linux-image-aws –  4.4.0.1138.135  
linux-image-generic-lts-xenial –  4.4.0.261.295~14.04.1  
linux-image-lowlatency-lts-xenial –  4.4.0.261.295~14.04.1  
linux-image-virtual-lts-xenial –  4.4.0.261.295~14.04.1  

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References

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