Debian Security Advisory

DSA-453-1 linux-kernel-2.2.20-i386+m68k+powerpc -- failing function and TLB flush

Date Reported:
02 Mar 2004
Affected Packages:
kernel-source-2.2.20
kernel-image-2.2.20-i386
kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386
kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga
kernel-image-2.2.20-atari
kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000
kernel-image-2.2.20-mac
kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147
kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x
kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc
Vulnerable:
Yes
Security database references:
In the Bugtraq database (at SecurityFocus): BugTraq ID 9686.
In Mitre's CVE dictionary: CVE-2004-0077.
CERT's vulnerabilities, advisories and incident notes: VU#981222.
More information:

Paul Starzetz and Wojciech Purczynski of isec.pl discovered a critical security vulnerability in the memory management code of Linux inside the mremap(2) system call. Due to flushing the TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer, an address cache) too early it is possible for an attacker to trigger a local root exploit.

The attack vectors for 2.4.x and 2.2.x kernels are exclusive for the respective kernel series, though. We formerly believed that the exploitable vulnerability in 2.4.x does not exist in 2.2.x which is still true. However, it turned out that a second (sort of) vulnerability is indeed exploitable in 2.2.x, but not in 2.4.x, with a different exploit, of course.

For the stable distribution (woody) this problem has been fixed in the following versions and architectures:

package arch version
kernel-source-2.2.20 source 2.2.20-5woody3
kernel-image-2.2.20-i386 i386 2.2.20-5woody5
kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386 i386 2.2.20-4woody1
kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga m68k 2.20-4
kernel-image-2.2.20-atari m68k 2.2.20-3
kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000 m68k 2.2.20-3
kernel-image-2.2.20-mac m68k 2.2.20-3
kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147 m68k 2.2.20-3
kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x m68k 2.2.20-3
kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc powerpc 2.2.20-3woody1

For the unstable distribution (sid) this problem will be fixed soon for the architectures that still ship a 2.2.x kernel package.

We recommend that you upgrade your Linux kernel package.

Vulnerability matrix for CAN-2004-0077

Fixed in:

Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody)

Source:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-source-2.2.20/kernel-source-2.2.20_2.2.20-5woody3.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-source-2.2.20/kernel-source-2.2.20_2.2.20-5woody3.diff.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-source-2.2.20/kernel-source-2.2.20_2.2.20.orig.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386_2.2.20-5woody5.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386_2.2.20-5woody5.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386_2.2.20-4woody1.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386_2.2.20-4woody1.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga/kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga_2.2.20-4.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga/kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga_2.2.20-4.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-atari/kernel-image-2.2.20-atari_2.2.20-3.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-atari/kernel-image-2.2.20-atari_2.2.20-3.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000/kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000_2.2.20-3.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000/kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000_2.2.20-3.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mac/kernel-image-2.2.20-mac_2.2.20-3.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mac/kernel-image-2.2.20-mac_2.2.20-3.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147_2.2.20-3.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147_2.2.20-3.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x_2.2.20-3.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x_2.2.20-3.tar.gz
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc_2.2.20-3woody1.dsc
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc_2.2.20-3woody1.tar.gz
Architecture-independent component:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-source-2.2.20/kernel-doc-2.2.20_2.2.20-5woody3_all.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-source-2.2.20/kernel-source-2.2.20_2.2.20-5woody3_all.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc_2.2.20-3woody1_all.deb
Intel IA-32:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-headers-2.2.20_2.2.20-5woody5_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-headers-2.2.20-compact_2.2.20-5woody5_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-headers-2.2.20-idepci_2.2.20-5woody5_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20_2.2.20-5woody5_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-compact_2.2.20-5woody5_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-idepci_2.2.20-5woody5_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386/kernel-headers-2.2.20-reiserfs_2.2.20-4woody1_i386.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs-i386/kernel-image-2.2.20-reiserfs_2.2.20-4woody1_i386.deb
Motorola 680x0:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga/kernel-image-2.2.20-amiga_2.2.20-4_m68k.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-atari/kernel-image-2.2.20-atari_2.2.20-3_m68k.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000/kernel-image-2.2.20-bvme6000_2.2.20-3_m68k.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mac/kernel-image-2.2.20-mac_2.2.20-3_m68k.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme147_2.2.20-3_m68k.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x/kernel-image-2.2.20-mvme16x_2.2.20-3_m68k.deb
PowerPC:
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-headers-2.2.20_2.2.20-3woody1_powerpc.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-image-2.2.20-chrp_2.2.20-3woody1_powerpc.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-image-2.2.20-pmac_2.2.20-3woody1_powerpc.deb
http://security.debian.org/pool/updates/main/k/kernel-patch-2.2.20-powerpc/kernel-image-2.2.20-prep_2.2.20-3woody1_powerpc.deb

MD5 checksums of the listed files are available in the original advisory.