______________________________________________________________________________

                        SUSE Security Announcement

        Package:                kernel
        Announcement ID:        SUSE-SA:2009:056
        Date:                   Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000
        Affected Products:      SUSE SLES 9
                                Novell Linux Desktop 9
                                Novell Linux POS 9
        Vulnerability Type:     local privilege escalation
        Severity (1-10):        7
        SUSE Default Package:   yes
        Cross-References:       CVE-2009-1192, CVE-2009-1633, CVE-2009-2848
                                CVE-2009-2909, CVE-2009-2910, CVE-2009-3002
                                CVE-2009-3547, CVE-2009-3726

    Content of This Advisory:
        1) Security Vulnerability Resolved:
             Linux kernel security update
           Problem Description
        2) Solution or Work-Around
        3) Special Instructions and Notes
        4) Package Location and Checksums
        5) Pending Vulnerabilities, Solutions, and Work-Arounds:
            See SUSE Security Summary Report.
        6) Authenticity Verification and Additional Information

______________________________________________________________________________

1) Problem Description and Brief Discussion

   Several security issues and some bugs were fixed in the SUSE Linux
   Enterprise 9 kernel.

   Following security bugs were fixed:
   CVE-2009-3547: A race condition in the pipe(2) system call could be
   used by local attackers to execute code and escalate privileges.

   CVE-2009-2910: On x86_64 systems a information leak of high register
   contents (upper 32bit) was fixed.

   CVE-2009-1192: The (1) agp_generic_alloc_page and (2)
   agp_generic_alloc_pages functions in drivers/char/agp/generic.c in
   the agp subsystem in the Linux kernel do not zero out pages that may
   later be available to a user-space process, which allows local users
   to obtain sensitive information by reading these pages.

   CVE-2009-2909: Unsigned check in the ax25 socket handler could allow
   local attackers to potentially crash the kernel or even execute code.

   CVE-2009-2848: The execve function in the Linux kernel did not properly
   clear the current->clear_child_tid pointer, which allows local
   users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or possibly
   gain privileges via a clone system call with CLONE_CHILD_SETTID or
   CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID enabled, which is not properly handled during
   thread creation and exit.

   CVE-2009-3002: Fixed various socket handler getname leaks, which
   could disclose memory previously used by the kernel or other userland
   processes to the local attacker.

   CVE-2009-1633: Multiple buffer overflows in the cifs subsystem in the
   Linux kernel allow remote CIFS servers to cause a denial of service
   (memory corruption) and possibly have unspecified other impact via (1)
   a malformed Unicode string, related to Unicode string area alignment
   in fs/cifs/sess.c; or (2) long Unicode characters, related to
   fs/cifs/cifssmb.c and the cifs_readdir function in fs/cifs/readdir.c.

   CVE-2009-3726: The nfs4_proc_lock function in fs/nfs/nfs4proc.c in
   the NFSv4 client in the allows remote NFS servers to cause a denial
   of service (NULL pointer dereference and panic) by sending a certain
   response containing incorrect file attributes, which trigger attempted
   use of an open file that lacks NFSv4 state.

   For a complete list of changes, please refer to the RPM changelog.

2) Solution or Work-Around

   There is no known workaround, please install the update packages.

3) Special Instructions and Notes

   Reboot the machine after installing the update.

4) Package Location and Checksums

   The preferred method for installing security updates is to use the YaST
   Online Update (YOU) tool. YOU detects which updates are required and
   automatically performs the necessary steps to verify and install them.
   Alternatively, download the update packages for your distribution manually
   and verify their integrity by the methods listed in Section 6 of this
   announcement. Then install the packages using the command

     rpm -Fhv 

   to apply the update, replacing  with the filename of the
   downloaded RPM package.

   Our maintenance customers are notified individually. The packages are
   offered for installation from the maintenance web:

   SUSE CORE 9 for IBM zSeries 64bit
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=77ed33379952aaf1e23ae495aab9c221

   SUSE CORE 9 for IBM S/390 31bit
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=51eb79501b8e03bf515dafcfc5d912b0

   SUSE CORE 9 for AMD64 and Intel EM64T
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=b26c54164a036ab3b436997e2b5c5874

   SUSE CORE 9 for IBM POWER
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=8d6ae4279786eaab2134168e22490f95

   SUSE CORE 9 for Itanium Processor Family
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=7647ad06193e496ce89cc593ea9d19da

   Novell Linux POS 9
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=66a3e66c695dceba429e6e5538741b7d

   SUSE SLES 9
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=77ed33379952aaf1e23ae495aab9c221
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=51eb79501b8e03bf515dafcfc5d912b0
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=b26c54164a036ab3b436997e2b5c5874
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=8d6ae4279786eaab2134168e22490f95
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=7647ad06193e496ce89cc593ea9d19da
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=66a3e66c695dceba429e6e5538741b7d

   SUSE CORE 9 for x86
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=66a3e66c695dceba429e6e5538741b7d

   Novell Linux Desktop 9
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=1f8052e3d1888101d98fed2d234ab541

   Novell Linux Desktop 9 for x86_64
     http://download.novell.com/index.jsp?search=Search&set_restricted=true&keywords=1f8052e3d1888101d98fed2d234ab541

______________________________________________________________________________

5) Pending Vulnerabilities, Solutions, and Work-Arounds:

   See SUSE Security Summary Report.
______________________________________________________________________________

6) Authenticity Verification and Additional Information

  - Announcement authenticity verification:

    SUSE security announcements are published via mailing lists and on Web
    sites. The authenticity and integrity of a SUSE security announcement is
    guaranteed by a cryptographic signature in each announcement. All SUSE
    security announcements are published with a valid signature.

    To verify the signature of the announcement, save it as text into a file
    and run the command

      gpg --verify 

    replacing  with the name of the file where you saved the
    announcement. The output for a valid signature looks like:

      gpg: Signature made  using RSA key ID 3D25D3D9
      gpg: Good signature from "SuSE Security Team "

    where  is replaced by the date the document was signed.

    If the security team's key is not contained in your key ring, you can
    import it from the first installation CD. To import the key, use the
    command

      gpg --import gpg-pubkey-3d25d3d9-36e12d04.asc

  - Package authenticity verification:

    SUSE update packages are available on many mirror FTP servers all over the
    world. While this service is considered valuable and important to the free
    and open source software community, the authenticity and the integrity of
    a package needs to be verified to ensure that it has not been tampered
    with.

    The internal rpm package signatures provide an easy way to verify the
    authenticity of an RPM package. Use the command

     rpm -v --checksig 

    to verify the signature of the package, replacing  with the
    filename of the RPM package downloaded. The package is unmodified if it
    contains a valid signature from build@suse.de with the key ID 9C800ACA.

    This key is automatically imported into the RPM database (on
    RPMv4-based distributions) and the gpg key ring of 'root' during
    installation. You can also find it on the first installation CD and at
    the end of this announcement.

  - SUSE runs two security mailing lists to which any interested party may
    subscribe:

    opensuse-security@opensuse.org
        -   General Linux and SUSE security discussion.
            All SUSE security announcements are sent to this list.
            To subscribe, send an e-mail to
                .

    opensuse-security-announce@opensuse.org
        -   SUSE's announce-only mailing list.
            Only SUSE's security announcements are sent to this list.
            To subscribe, send an e-mail to
                .

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    The  public key is listed below.
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______________________________________________________________________________

    The information in this advisory may be distributed or reproduced,
    provided that the advisory is not modified in any way. In particular, the
    clear text signature should show proof of the authenticity of the text.

    SUSE Linux Products GmbH provides no warranties of any kind whatsoever
    with respect to the information contained in this security advisory.