USN-4144-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities

1 October 2019

Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.

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Details

It was discovered that the XFS file system in the Linux kernel did not
properly handle mount failures in some situations. A local attacker could
possibly use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or execute
arbitrary code. (CVE-2018-20976)

Benjamin Moody discovered that the XFS file system in the Linux kernel did
not properly handle an error condition when out of disk quota. A local
attacker could possibly use this to cause a denial of service.
(CVE-2019-15538)

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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

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