The latest version is kernel-2.6.32-642.4.2.el6

Aug 25, 2016 21:45 GMT  ·  By

CentOS developer and maintainer Johnny Hughes informed the community about the availability of an important Linux kernel update for the CentOS 6 Linux operating system.

The new kernel update is here to patch various important security issues in the Linux 2.6.32 kernel packages used by CentOS 6, which is built on the freely distributed sources of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 operating system. This means that the new kernel has also been pushed upstream, in Red Hat's repositories.

In fact, the kernel security update affects the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node 6 products, and it was rated by Red Hat Product Security as "Important."

The most important security issue fixed by this kernel update is a flaw in Linux kernel's networking subsystem, which could have allowed an off-path attacker to leak certain information about a certain network connection, but it looks like it also addresses seven other bugs discovered in the Linux 2.6.32 kernel branch.

"This update optimizes the efficiency of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) when the peer is using a window under 537 bytes in size. As a result, devices that use maximum segment size (MSS) of 536 bytes or fewer will experience improved network performance," reads the Red Hat Security Advisory.

Users are urged to update their systems immediately

If you're using any of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 products mentioned above, as well as the CentOS 6 Linux operating system, you are urged to update the kernel packages of your distribution as soon as possible. The new kernel version is kernel-2.6.32-642.4.2.el6.i686.rpm for 32-bit systems and kernel-2.6.32-642.4.2.el6.x86_64.rpm for 64-bit ones.

These patched kernel packages are now live in the main software repositories of CentOS 6 and RHEL 6, so all you have to do is to fire up the default package manager, YUM in this case, and install all the available updates. Make sure that you reboot your computer after installing the new kernel update. The source is available as well as kernel-2.6.32-642.4.2.el6.src.rpm.