1. Ubuntu Security Notices
  2. USN-7234-2

USN-7234-2: Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities

Publication date

30 January 2025

Overview

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Releases

Packages

Details

Ye Zhang and Nicolas Wu discovered that the io_uring subsystem in the Linux
kernel did not properly handle locking for rings with IOPOLL, leading to a
double-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a
denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code.
(CVE-2023-21400)

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:

  • TTY drivers;
  • Netfilter;
  • Network traffic control;
  • VMware vSockets driver

Ye Zhang and Nicolas Wu discovered that the io_uring subsystem in the Linux
kernel did not properly handle locking for rings with IOPOLL, leading to a
double-free vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a
denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code.
(CVE-2023-21400)

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:

  • TTY drivers;
  • Netfilter;
  • Network traffic control;
  • VMware vSockets driver

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
18.04 bionic linux-image-5.4.0-205-generic –  5.4.0-205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-5.4.0-205-lowlatency –  5.4.0-205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-generic-hwe-18.04 –  5.4.0.205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-lowlatency-hwe-18.04 –  5.4.0.205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-oem –  5.4.0.205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-oem-osp1 –  5.4.0.205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-snapdragon-hwe-18.04 –  5.4.0.205.225~18.04.1  
linux-image-virtual-hwe-18.04 –  5.4.0.205.225~18.04.1  

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References

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