The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system. This update fixes the following security issues: * Multiple buffer overflow flaws were found in the Linux kernel"s Management Module Support for Message Passing Technology based controllers. A local, unprivileged user could use these flaws to cause a denial of service, an information leak, or escalate their privileges. * A flaw was found in the Linux kernel"s Ethernet bonding driver implementation. Packets coming in from network devices that have more than 16 receive queues to a bonding interface could cause a denial of service. * A flaw was found in the Linux kernel"s networking subsystem. If the number of packets received exceeded the receiver"s buffer limit, they were queued in a backlog, consuming memory, instead of being discarded. A remote attacker could abuse this flaw to cause a denial of service . * A flaw was found in the Linux kernel"s Transparent Huge Pages implementation. A local, unprivileged user could abuse this flaw to allow the user stack to grow and cause a denial of service. * A flaw was found in the transmit methods for the loopback and InfiniBand transports in the Linux kernel"s Reliable Datagram Sockets implementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. * A flaw in the Linux kernel"s Event Poll implementation could allow a local, unprivileged user to cause a denial of service. * An inconsistency was found in the interaction between the Linux kernel"s method for allocating NFSv4 ACL data and the method by which it was freed. This inconsistency led to a kernel panic which could be triggered by a local, unprivileged user with files owned by said user on an NFSv4 share. * A missing validation check was found in the Linux kernel"s mac_partition implementation, used for supporting file systems created on Mac OS operating systems. A local attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service by mounting a disk that contains specially-crafted partitions. * A buffer overflow flaw in the DEC Alpha OSF partition implementation in the Linux kernel could allow a local attacker to cause an information leak by mounting a disk that contains specially-crafted partition tables. * Missing validations of null-terminated string data structure elements in the do_replace, compat_do_replace, do_ipt_get_ctl, do_ip6t_get_ctl, and do_arpt_get_ctl functions could allow a local user who has the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability to cause an information leak. Red Hat would like to thank Dan Rosenberg for reporting CVE-2011-1494 and CVE-2011-1495; Nelson Elhage for reporting CVE-2011-1082; Timo Warns for reporting CVE-2011-1010 and CVE-2011-1163; and Vasiliy Kulikov for reporting CVE-2011-1170, CVE-2011-1171, and CVE-2011-1172. This update also fixes several hundred bugs and adds enhancements. Refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 Release Notes for information on the most significant of these changes, and the Technical Notes for further information, both linked to in the References. All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 users are advised to install these updated packages, which correct these issues, and fix the bugs and add the enhancements noted in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 Release Notes and Technical Notes. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.