New Kernel Vulnerabilities Affect Ubuntu 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04 OSes

Earlier today, Canonical has announced the availability of a major security update for the following Ubuntu distributions: 6.06 LTS, 8.04 LTS, 8.10 and 9.04 (also applies to Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu). The update patches no more than 15 security issues (see below for details) discovered in the Linux kernel packages by various hackers. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to update your system as soon as possible!

The following Linux kernel vulnerabilities were discovered:

1. When root_squash was active, NFS clients could create device nodes. This could lead to loss of privacy. The issue was discovered by Igor Zhbanov, and affects only Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 users.

2. SELinux failed to handle various network checks if compat_net=1 was enabled. Because of this, network checks could be bypassed by a local attacker. The issue was discovered by Dan Carpenter, and affects only Ubuntu 8.10 and 9.04 users.

Read more at Softpedia