Slackware Advisory SSA:2009-230-01 kernel

The remote host is missing an update as announced via advisory SSA:2009-230-01.

New Linux kernel packages are available for Slackware 12.2 and -current to address a security issue. A kernel bug discovered by Tavis Ormandy and Julien Tinnes of the Google Security Team could allow a local user to fill memory page zero with arbitrary code and then use the kernel sendpage operation to trigger a NULL pointer dereference, executing the code in the context of the kernel. If successfully exploited, this bug can be used to gain root access. At this time we have prepared fixed kernels for the stable version of Slackware (12.2), as well as for both 32-bit x86 and x86_64 -current versions. Additionally, we have added a package to the /patches directory for Slackware 12.1 and 12.2 that will set the minimum memory page that can be mmap()ed from userspace without additional privileges to 4096. The package will work with any kernel supporting the vm.mmap_min_addr tunable, and should significantly reduce the potential harm from this bug, as well as future similar bugs that might be found in the kernel. More updated kernels may follow.

Upgrade to the new package(s).