It patches a total of seven Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Jun 28, 2016 07:37 GMT  ·  By

We reported the other day that Canonical released a major kernel update for its Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) operating system, and it appears that it also affected users of the Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) distribution.

While Ubuntu 15.10 will be supported for only one month or less, Canonical has released multiple Linux kernel updates for the other LTS (Long Term Supported) Ubuntu releases, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin).

According to Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3018-1 and Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3021-1, a total of seven kernel vulnerabilities affected both Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS operating systems, including the latest point release of Trusty Tahr, which has received new hardware enablement kernel from Vivid Vervet (Ubuntu 15.04) and Utopic Unicorn (Ubuntu 14.10).

Among the security issues fixed in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, we can mention information leaks in the core USB, ALSA, X.25 Call Request handling, and Rock Ridge implementations, a use-after-free issue in the generic PPP layer, and bugs in the CDC Network Control Model USB driver and InfiniBand interfaces.

Users are urged to update as soon as possible

As expected, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) has received a Linux hardware enablement kernel from Trusty Tahr (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS), version linux-image-3.13.0-91 (3.13.0-91.138), but the default kernel has been updated to linux-image-3.2.0-105 (3.2.0-105.146).

On the other hand, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS has gotten kernel linux-image-3.13.0-91 (3.13.0-91.138), as well as linux-image-3.16.0-76 (3.16.0-76.98~14.04.1) from Ubuntu 14.10, and linux-image-3.19.0-64 (3.19.0-64.72~14.04.1) from Ubuntu 15.04. Users are urged to update their systems as soon as possible.

To update, open the Unity Dash, search for the Software Updater utility, wait for the application to refresh the software repositories and fetch available updates, and then click on the "Install All" button to install all the updates. Please note that you'll have to reboot your Ubuntu machine after a kernel update, as well as to rebuild any third-party kernel modules you might have installed.