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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Red Hat Local Security Checks >> RHSA-2004-017: kernel

Vulnerability Assessment Details

RHSA-2004-017: kernel

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
Check for the version of the kernel packages

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment

Updated kernel packages are now available as part of ongoing
support and maintenance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux version
3. This is the first regular update.

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating
system.

This is the first regular kernel update for Red Hat Enterprise
Linux version 3. It contains a new critical security fix, many
other bug fixes, several device driver updates, and numerous
performance and scalability enhancements.

On AMD64 systems, a fix was made to the eflags checking in
32-bit ptrace emulation that could have permited local users
to elevate their rights. The Common Vulnerabilities and
Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name
CVE-2004-0001 to this issue.

Other bug fixes were made in the following kernel areas:
VM, NPTL, IPC, kernel timer, ext3, NFS, netdump, SCSI,
ACPI, several device drivers, and machine-dependent
support for the x86_64, ppc64, and s390 architectures.

The VM subsystem was improved to better handle extreme
loads and resource contention (such as might occur during
heavy database application usage). This has resulted in
a significantly reduced possibility of hangs, OOM kills,
and low-mem exhaustion.

Several NPTL fixes were made to resolve POSIX compliance
issues concerning process IDs and thread IDs. A section
in the Release Notes elaborates on a related issue with
file record locking in multi-threaded applications.

AMD64 kernels are now configured with NUMA support,
S390 kernels now have CONFIG_BLK_STATS enabled, and
DMA capability was restored in the IA64 agpgart driver.

The following drivers have been upgraded to new versions:

cmpci ------ 6.36
e100 ------- 2.3.30-k1
e1000 ------ 5.2.20-k1
ips -------- 6.10.52
megaraid --- v1.18k
megaraid2 -- v2.00.9

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 users are advised to upgrade
their kernels to the packages associated with their machine
architectures and configurations as listed in this erratum.

Solution : http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2004-017.html
Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID:

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: This script is Copyright (C) 2004 Tenable Network Security

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