USN-3540-2: Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerabilities

23 January 2018

Several security issues were addressed 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-aws - Linux kernel for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems
  • linux-lts-xenial - Linux hardware enablement kernel from Xenial for Trusty

Details

USN-3540-1 addressed vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel for Ubuntu
16.04 LTS. This update provides the corresponding updates for the
Linux Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Jann Horn discovered that microprocessors utilizing speculative
execution and branch prediction may allow unauthorized memory
reads via sidechannel attacks. This flaw is known as Spectre. A
local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information,
including kernel memory. This update provides mitigations for the
i386 (CVE-2017-5753 only), amd64, ppc64el, and s390x architectures.
(CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753)

USN-3522-2 mitigated CVE-2017-5754 (Meltdown) for the amd64
architecture in the Linux Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernel from Ubuntu
16.04 LTS for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. This update provides the corresponding
mitigations for the ppc64el architecture. Original advisory details:

Jann Horn discovered that microprocessors utilizing speculative
execution and indirect branch prediction may allow unauthorized memory
reads via sidechannel attacks. This flaw is known as Meltdown. A local
attacker could use this to expose sensitive information, including
kernel memory. (CVE-2017-5754)

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

Please note that fully mitigating CVE-2017-5715 (Spectre Variant 2)
requires corresponding processor microcode/firmware updates or,
in virtual environments, hypervisor updates. On i386 and amd64
architectures, the IBRS and IBPB features are required to enable the
kernel mitigations. Ubuntu is working with Intel and AMD to provide
future microcode updates that implement IBRS and IBPB as they are made
available. Ubuntu users with a processor from a different vendor should
contact the vendor to identify necessary firmware updates. Ubuntu
will provide corresponding QEMU updates in the future for users of
self-hosted virtual environments in coordination with upstream QEMU.
Ubuntu users in cloud environments should contact the cloud provider
to confirm that the hypervisor has been updated to expose the new
CPU features to virtual machines.

After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to
apply the necessary changes.

References

Related notices

Join the discussion

Need help with your security needs?

Ubuntu Pro provides up to ten-year security coverage for over 23,000 open-source packages within the Ubuntu Main and Universe repositories.

Talk to an expert to find out what would work best for you

Further reading