USN-5298-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

22 February 2022

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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It was discovered that the Packet network protocol implementation in the
Linux kernel contained a double-free vulnerability. A local attacker could
use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute
arbitrary code. (CVE-2021-22600)

Jürgen Groß discovered that the Xen subsystem within the Linux kernel did
not adequately limit the number of events driver domains (unprivileged PV
backends) could send to other guest VMs. An attacker in a driver domain
could use this to cause a denial of service in other guest VMs.
(CVE-2021-28711, CVE-2021-28712, CVE-2021-28713)

Jürgen Groß discovered that the Xen network backend driver in the Linux
kernel did not adequately limit the amount of queued packets when a guest
did not process them. An attacker in a guest VM can use this to cause a
denial of service (excessive kernel memory consumption) in the network
backend domain. (CVE-2021-28714, CVE-2021-28715)

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)

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 18.04
Ubuntu 16.04
Ubuntu 14.04

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.

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