USN-5297-1: Linux kernel (GKE) vulnerabilities

22 February 2022

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Releases

Packages

  • linux-gke - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems
  • linux-gke-5.4 - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems

Details

Szymon Heidrich discovered that the USB Gadget subsystem in the Linux
kernel did not properly restrict the size of control requests for certain
gadget types, leading to possible out of bounds reads or writes. A local
attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or
possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2021-39685)

Jann Horn discovered a race condition in the Unix domain socket
implementation in the Linux kernel that could result in a read-after-free.
A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash)
or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2021-4083)

Kirill Tkhai discovered that the XFS file system implementation in the
Linux kernel did not calculate size correctly when pre-allocating space in
some situations. A local attacker could use this to expose sensitive
information. (CVE-2021-4155)

Lin Ma discovered that the NFC Controller Interface (NCI) implementation in
the Linux kernel contained a race condition, leading to a use-after-free
vulnerability. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service
(system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2021-4202)

Brendan Dolan-Gavitt discovered that the aQuantia AQtion Ethernet device
driver in the Linux kernel did not properly validate meta-data coming from
the device. A local attacker who can control an emulated device can use
this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute
arbitrary code. (CVE-2021-43975)

Sushma Venkatesh Reddy discovered that the Intel i915 graphics driver in
the Linux kernel did not perform a GPU TLB flush in some situations. A
local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service or possibly
execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2022-0330)

It was discovered that the VMware Virtual GPU driver in the Linux kernel
did not properly handle certain failure conditions, leading to a stale
entry in the file descriptor table. A local attacker could use this to
expose sensitive information or possibly gain administrative privileges.
(CVE-2022-22942)

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Update instructions

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 18.04

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.

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.

References

Related notices

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