LSN-0083-1: Kernel Live Patch Security Notice

6 January 2022

Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.

Releases

Software Description

  • aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems - (>= 4.15.0-1054, >= 5.4.0-1009, >= 4.4.0-1098, >= 4.4.0-1129)
  • azure - Linux kernel for Microsoft Azure Cloud systems - (>= 5.4.0-1010, >= 4.15.0-1063, >= 4.15.0-1078, >= 4.15.0-1114)
  • gcp - Linux kernel for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) systems - (>= 5.4.0-1009)
  • generic-4.15 - Linux hardware enablement (HWE) kernel - (>= 4.15.0-69, >= 4.15.0-143, >= 4.15.0-69)
  • generic-4.4 - Linux kernel - (>= 4.4.0-211, >= 4.4.0-168)
  • generic-5.4 - Linux kernel - (>= 5.4.0-26)
  • gke - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems - (>= 5.4.0-1033)
  • gke-4.15 - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems - (>= 4.15.0-1076)
  • gke-5.4 - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems - (>= 5.4.0-1009)
  • gkeop - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems - (>= 5.4.0-1009)
  • gkeop-5.4 - Linux kernel for Google Container Engine (GKE) systems - (>= 5.4.0-1007)
  • lowlatency-4.15 - Linux hardware enablement (HWE) kernel - (>= 4.15.0-69, >= 4.15.0-143, >= 4.15.0-69)
  • lowlatency-4.4 - Linux kernel - (>= 4.4.0-211, >= 4.4.0-168)
  • lowlatency-5.4 - Linux kernel - (>= 5.4.0-26)
  • oem - Linux kernel for OEM systems - (>= 4.15.0-1063)

Details

The BPF subsystem in the Linux kernel before 4.17 mishandles
situations with a long jump over an instruction sequence where inner
instructions require substantial expansions into multiple BPF instructions,
leading to an overflow. This affects kernel/bpf/core.c and
net/core/filter.c.(CVE-2018-25020)

Maxim Levitsky discovered that the KVM hypervisor implementation for AMD
processors in the Linux kernel did not properly prevent a guest VM from
enabling AVIC in nested guest VMs. An attacker in a guest VM could use this
to write to portions of the host's physical memory.(CVE-2021-3653)

Nadav Amit discovered that the hugetlb implementation in the Linux kernel
did not perform TLB flushes under certain conditions. A local attacker
could use this to leak or alter data from other processes that use huge
pages.(CVE-2021-4002)

Andy Nguyen discovered that the netfilter subsystem in the Linux kernel
contained an out-of-bounds write in its setsockopt() implementation. A
local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash)
or possibly execute arbitrary code.(CVE-2021-22555)

It was discovered that the virtual file system implementation in the Linux
kernel contained an unsigned to signed integer conversion error. A local
attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or
execute arbitrary code.(CVE-2021-33909)

Checking update status

The problem can be corrected in these Livepatch versions:

Kernel type 20.04 18.04 16.04
aws 83.1 83.1 83.1
azure 83.1 83.1
gcp 83.1
generic-4.15 83.1 83.1
generic-4.4 83.1
generic-5.4 83.1
gke 83.2
gke-4.15 83.1
gke-5.4 83.2
gkeop 83.2
gkeop-5.4 83.2
lowlatency-4.15 83.1 83.1
lowlatency-4.4 83.1
lowlatency-5.4 83.1
oem 83.1

To check your kernel type and Livepatch version, enter this command:

canonical-livepatch status