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Amazon Linux AMI : kernel (ALAS-2018-939) (Meltdown) (Spectre)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 105517

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Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux AMI host is missing a security update.

Description

An updated kernel release for Amazon Linux has been made available which prevents speculative execution of indirect branches within the kernel. This release incorporates latest stable open source Linux security improvements to address CVE-2017-5715 within the kernel and builds upon previously incorporated Kernel Page Table Isolation (KPTI) that addressed CVE-2017-5754 . Customers must upgrade to the latest Amazon Linux kernel or AMI to effectively mitigate the impact of both CVE-2017-5754 and CVE-2017-5715 on MMU privilege separation (kernel mode vs. user mode) within their instance.

Customers with existing Amazon Linux AMI instances should run the following command to ensure they receive the updated package :

'sudo yum update kernel'

As is standard per any update of the Linux kernel, after the yum update is complete, a reboot is required for updates to take effect.

Please refer to https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/AWS-2018-013/ for additional information regarding CVE-2017-5754 .

Updated on 2018-01-06: Additional KPTI improvements.

Updated on 2018-01-09: Updated details

Updated on 2018-01-13: Additional fixes for CVE-2017-5715

Solution

Run 'yum update kernel' to update your system. You will need to reboot your system in order for the new kernel to be running.

See Also

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/ALAS-2018-939.html

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 105517

File Name: ala_ALAS-2018-939.nasl

Version: 3.15

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 1/4/2018

Updated: 4/5/2019

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 8.1

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.7

Temporal Score: 4.1

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.6

Temporal Score: 5.4

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:H/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:perf-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo-common-i686, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64, cpe:/o:amazon:linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 1/3/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5754

ALAS: 2018-939

IAVA: 2018-A-0019, 2018-A-0020