Technical Description

Multiple vulnerabilities have been identified in Linux Kernel, which could be exploited by local attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially gain elevated privileges.

Various NULL pointer dereference errors exist in "drivers/net/hamradio/6pack.c", "drivers/net/hamradio/mkiss.c", "drivers/net/irda/irtty-sir.c", "drivers/net/ppp_async.c", "drivers/net/ppp_synctty.c", "drivers/net/slip.c", "drivers/net/wan/x25_asy.c" and "drivers/net/wireless/strip.c" when performing tty operations, which could be exploited by malicious users to panic a vulnerable system or potentially execute arbitrary code.

The second issue is caused by an error in the "arch/x86/kernel/ptrace.c" file that leaks "task_struct" references into the "sys32_ptrace" function, which may allow local users to crash a vulnerable system or cause use-after-free errors.

Affected Products

Linux Kernel versions prior to 2.6.25.10

Solution

Upgrade to Linux Kernel version 2.6.25.10 :
http://www.kernel.org

References

http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2063
http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.25.10
http://lwn.net/Articles/288473/
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/07/03/2

Credits

Vulnerabilities reported by PaXTeam.

ChangeLog

2008-07-11 : Initial release

Vulnerability Management

Subscribe to VUPEN VNS and receive real-time e-mail and SMS alerts when new advisories or patches relevant to your systems and network configurations are available.

Feedback

If you have additional information or corrections for this security advisory please submit them via our contact form.