14 DAY TRIAL // Debian Project's Salvatore Bonaccorso announced over the weekend the availability of a new Linux kernel version for the Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system series, addressing a regression caused by a previous update.
On February 22, 2018, the Debian Project released a kernel update for Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" users to fix the Spectre Variant 2 (branch target injection) vulnerability for the Intel x86_64 architecture and the Meltdown security vulnerability for PowerPC and PPC64el (PowerPC 64-bit Little Endian) architectures.
The kernel update also addressed an information leak in the Linux kernel, a bug in v4l2 IOCTL handling code's 32-bit compatibility layer, and Spectre Variant 1 (bounds-check bypass). However, it appears that it caused a regression on PowerPC architectures that could lead to random segfaults and data corruption.
"The security update announced as DSA-4120-1 caused regressions on the PowerPC kernel architecture (random programs segfault, data corruption). Updated packages are now available to correct this issue," said Salvatore Bonaccorso in a new security adivsory. "We recommend that you upgrade your Linux packages."
Debian Stretch users on PowerPC need to update their systems
If you're using the latest Debian GNU/Linux 9 "Stretch" operating system on a PowerPC computer, you are urged to update it as soon as possible to kernel version 4.9.82-1+deb9u3. The updated kernel package is already in the distro's stable software repositories so all you have to do is to update your installation.
To update, you can run the "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" command in a terminal emulator. It is recommended that you update your Debian Stretch installations as soon as possible, and make it a habit to always keep your operating systems and programs up-to-date all times for a reliable and stable experience.