USN-6396-3: Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities

17 October 2023

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Releases

Packages

  • linux-azure - Linux kernel for Microsoft Azure Cloud systems

Details

It was discovered that some AMD x86-64 processors with SMT enabled could
speculatively execute instructions using a return address from a sibling
thread. A local attacker could possibly use this to expose sensitive
information. (CVE-2022-27672)

Daniel Moghimi discovered that some Intel(R) Processors did not properly
clear microarchitectural state after speculative execution of various
instructions. A local unprivileged user could use this to obtain to
sensitive information. (CVE-2022-40982)

Yang Lan discovered that the GFS2 file system implementation in the Linux
kernel could attempt to dereference a null pointer in some situations. An
attacker could use this to construct a malicious GFS2 image that, when
mounted and operated on, could cause a denial of service (system crash).
(CVE-2023-3212)

It was discovered that the NFC implementation in the Linux kernel contained
a use-after-free vulnerability when performing peer-to-peer communication
in certain conditions. A privileged attacker could use this to cause a
denial of service (system crash) or possibly expose sensitive information
(kernel memory). (CVE-2023-3863)

It was discovered that the bluetooth subsystem in the Linux kernel did not
properly handle L2CAP socket release, 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-2023-40283)

It was discovered that some network classifier implementations in the Linux
kernel contained use-after-free vulnerabilities. A local attacker could use
this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute
arbitrary code. (CVE-2023-4128)

Reduce your security exposure

Ubuntu Pro provides ten-year security coverage to 25,000+ packages in Main and Universe repositories, and it is free for up to five machines.

Learn more about Ubuntu Pro

Update instructions

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

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.