Ubuntu Security Notice 3816-3 - USN-3816-1 fixed vulnerabilities in systemd. The fix for CVE-2018-6954 caused a regression in systemd-tmpfiles when running Ubuntu inside a container on some older kernels. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. In order to continue to support this configuration, the fixes for CVE-2018-6954 have been reverted. Various other issues were also addressed.
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Ubuntu Security Notice USN-3816-3
November 27, 2018
systemd regression
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A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives:
- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Summary:
USN-3816-1 caused a regression in systemd-tmpfiles.
Software Description:
- systemd: system and service manager
Details:
USN-3816-1 fixed vulnerabilities in systemd. The fix for CVE-2018-6954
caused a regression in systemd-tmpfiles when running Ubuntu inside a
container on some older kernels. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04
LTS. In order to continue to support this configuration, the fixes for
CVE-2018-6954 have been reverted.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Original advisory details:
Jann Horn discovered that unit_deserialize incorrectly handled status
messages
above a certain length. A local attacker could potentially exploit this via
NotifyAccess to inject arbitrary state across re-execution and obtain root
privileges. (CVE-2018-15686)
Jann Horn discovered a race condition in chown_one(). A local attacker
could potentially exploit this by setting arbitrary permissions on certain
files to obtain root privileges. This issue only affected Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
and Ubuntu 18.10. (CVE-2018-15687)
It was discovered that systemd-tmpfiles mishandled symlinks in
non-terminal path components. A local attacker could potentially exploit
this by gaining ownership of certain files to obtain root privileges. This
issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. (CVE-2018-6954)
Update instructions:
The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following
package versions:
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS:
systemd 229-4ubuntu21.10
After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make
all the necessary changes.
References:
https://usn.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-3816-3
https://usn.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-3816-1
https://launchpad.net/bugs/1804847
Package Information:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/systemd/229-4ubuntu21.10