Ubuntu Security Notices
USN-7296-1

USN-7296-1: Linux kernel vulnerability

Publication date

25 February 2025

Overview

The system could be made to crash or run programs as an administrator.

Releases

18.04 LTS 16.04 LTS

Packages

linux - Linux kernel
linux-hwe - Linux hardware enablement (HWE) kernel

Details

Attila Szász discovered that the HFS+ file system implementation in the
Linux Kernel contained a heap overflow vulnerability. An attacker could use
a specially crafted file system image that, when mounted, could cause a
denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code.

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-4.15.0-234-generic – 4.15.0-234.246
	linux-image-4.15.0-234-lowlatency – 4.15.0-234.246
	linux-image-generic – 4.15.0.234.218
	linux-image-lowlatency – 4.15.0.234.218
	linux-image-virtual – 4.15.0.234.218
16.04 xenial	linux-image-4.15.0-234-generic – 4.15.0-234.246~16.04.1
	linux-image-4.15.0-234-lowlatency – 4.15.0-234.246~16.04.1
	linux-image-generic-hwe-16.04 – 4.15.0.234.246~16.04.1
	linux-image-lowlatency-hwe-16.04 – 4.15.0.234.246~16.04.1
	linux-image-oem – 4.15.0.234.246~16.04.1
	linux-image-virtual-hwe-16.04 – 4.15.0.234.246~16.04.1