Canonical releases security kernel patch for Ubuntu 17.10 & Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (HWE)

by do son · Published · Updated

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Canonical today unveiled a new Linux kernel patch for the Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) HWE (Hardware Enablement) distribution, highlighting a logic bug in the x86-64 system call entry implementation in the kernel. This bug was discovered by Jay Vosburgh.

 

Based on security announcements released by Canonical, this vulnerability was discovered on the basis of a recently exposed Specter CPU vulnerability that could allow a local attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service attack (DoS attack).

The details are below:

  • Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3548-1

    linux vulnerability
    A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
    Ubuntu 17.10

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

    Software description
    linux – Linux kernel

    Details
    Jay Vosburgh discovered a logic error in the x86-64 syscall entry implementation in the Linux kernel, introduced as part of the mitigations for the Spectre vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.

  • Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3548-2

    linux-hwe, linux-azure, linux-gcp, linux-oem vulnerability
    A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
    Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

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

    Software description
    linux-azure – Linux kernel for Microsoft Azure Cloud systems
    linux-gcp – Linux kernel for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) systems
    linux-hwe – Linux hardware enablement (HWE) kernel
    linux-oem – Linux kernel for OEM processors

    Details
    USN-3548-1 fixed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu 17.10.
    This update provides the corresponding updates for the Linux Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 17.10 for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

    Jay Vosburgh discovered a logic error in the x86-64 syscall entry implementation in the Linux kernel, introduced as part of the mitigations for the Spectre vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code.

Canonical recommends that all Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) users install linux-image-4.13.0-32-generic 4.13.0-32.35 or linux-image-4.13.0-32-lowlatency 4.13.0-32.35 kernel images as soon as possible.

Tags: security kernel patch