RHSA-2018:1854: Important: kernel security and bug fix update
The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.Security Fix(es): An industry-wide issue was found in the way many modern microprocessor designs have implemented speculative execution of Load & Store instructions (a commonly used performance optimization). It relies on the presence of a precisely-defined instruction sequence in the privileged code as well as the fact that memory read from address to which a recent memory write has occurred may see an older value and subsequently cause an update into the microprocessor's data cache even for speculatively executed instructions that never actually commit (retire). As a result, an unprivileged attacker could use this flaw to read privileged memory by conducting targeted cache side-channel attacks. (CVE-2018-3639, PowerPC) kernel: net/packet: overflow in check for priv area size (CVE-2017-7308) kernel: AIO interface didn't use rwverifyarea() for checking mandatory locking on files and size of access (CVE-2012-6701) kernel: AIO write triggers integer overflow in some protocols (CVE-2015-8830) kernel: Null pointer dereference via keyctl (CVE-2016-8650) kernel: ping socket / AFLLC connect() sinfamily race (CVE-2017-2671) kernel: Race condition between multiple sysperfeventopen() calls (CVE-2017-6001) kernel: Incorrect error handling in the setmempolicy and mbind compat syscalls in mm/mempolicy.c (CVE-2017-7616) kernel: mm subsystem does not properly enforce the CONFIGSTRICTDEVMEM protection mechanism (CVE-2017-7889) kernel: Double free in the inetcskclonelock function in net/ipv4/inetconnectionsock.c (CVE-2017-8890) kernel: net: sctpv6createacceptsk function mishandles inheritance (CVE-2017-9075) kernel: net: IPv6 DCCP implementation mishandles inheritance (CVE-2017-9076) kernel: net: tcpv6synrecvsock function mishandles inheritance (CVE-2017-9077) kernel: memory leak when merging buffers in SCSI IO vectors (CVE-2017-12190) kernel: vfs: BUG in truncateinodepagesrange() and fuse client (CVE-2017-15121) kernel: Race condition in drivers/md/dm.c:dmgetfromkobject() allows local users to cause a denial of service (CVE-2017-18203) kernel: a null pointer dereference in net/dccp/output.c:dccpwritexmit() leads to a system crash (CVE-2018-1130) kernel: Missing length check of payload in net/sctp/smmakechunk.c:sctpmakechunk() function allows denial of service (CVE-2018-5803) For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.Red Hat would like to thank Ken Johnson (Microsoft Security Response Center) and Jann Horn (Google Project Zero) for reporting CVE-2018-3639; Vitaly Mayatskih for reporting CVE-2017-12190; and Evgenii Shatokhin (Virtuozzo Team) for reporting CVE-2018-1130. The CVE-2017-15121 issue was discovered by Miklos Szeredi (Red Hat).Additional Changes:For detailed information on changes in this release, see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10 Release Notes and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.10 Technical Notes linked from the References section.
Affected Software
Remediation
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of RHSA-2018:1854?
The severity of RHSA-2018:1854 is considered critical due to vulnerabilities associated with speculative execution in common microprocessor designs.
How do I fix RHSA-2018:1854?
To fix RHSA-2018:1854, you should update the kernel package to version 2.6.32-754.el6 or later.
What vulnerabilities are addressed in RHSA-2018:1854?
RHSA-2018:1854 addresses vulnerabilities related to speculative execution attacks that could allow for information leaks.
What systems are affected by RHSA-2018:1854?
RHSA-2018:1854 affects systems running kernel versions prior to 2.6.32-754.el6 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Is a reboot required after applying the fix for RHSA-2018:1854?
Yes, a reboot is recommended after applying the update for RHSA-2018:1854 to ensure that the changes take effect.