USN-5073-2: Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities

17 September 2021

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Releases

Packages

  • linux-gcp - Linux kernel for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) systems
  • linux-gcp-4.15 - Linux kernel for Google Cloud Platform (GCP) systems

Details

Maxim Levitsky and Paolo Bonzini discovered that the KVM hypervisor
implementation for AMD processors in the Linux kernel allowed a guest VM to
disable restrictions on VMLOAD/VMSAVE in a nested guest. An attacker in a
guest VM could use this to read or write portions of the host's physical
memory. (CVE-2021-3656)

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)

Norbert Slusarek discovered that the CAN broadcast manger (bcm) protocol
implementation in the Linux kernel did not properly initialize memory in
some situations. A local attacker could use this to expose sensitive
information (kernel memory). (CVE-2021-34693)

Murray McAllister discovered that the joystick device interface in the
Linux kernel did not properly validate data passed via an ioctl(). A local
attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or
possibly execute arbitrary code on systems with a joystick device
registered. (CVE-2021-3612)

It was discovered that the Virtio console implementation in the Linux
kernel did not properly validate input lengths in some situations. A local
attacker could possibly use this to cause a denial of service (system
crash). (CVE-2021-38160)

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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

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.

References

Related notices

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