The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system. This update fixes the following security issues: * a logic error was found in the do_setlk function of the Linux kernel Network File System implementation. If a signal interrupted a lock request, the local POSIX lock was incorrectly created. This could cause a denial of service on the NFS server if a file descriptor was closed before its corresponding lock request returned. * a deficiency was found in the Linux kernel system call auditing implementation on 64-bit systems. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to circumvent a system call audit configuration, if that configuration filtered based on the "syscall" number or arguments. * the exit_notify function in the Linux kernel did not properly reset the exit signal if a process executed a set user ID application before exiting. This could allow a local, unprivileged user to elevate their privileges. * a flaw was found in the ecryptfs_write_metadata_to_contents function of the Linux kernel eCryptfs implementation. On systems with a 4096 byte page-size, this flaw may have caused 4096 bytes of uninitialized kernel memory to be written into the eCryptfs file headers, leading to an information leak. Note: Encrypted files created on systems running the vulnerable version of eCryptfs may contain leaked data in the eCryptfs file headers. This update does not remove any leaked data. Refer to the Knowledgebase article in the References section for further information. * the Linux kernel implementation of the Network File System did not properly initialize the file name limit in the nfs_server data structure. This flaw could possibly lead to a denial of service on a client mounting an NFS share. This update also fixes the following bugs: * the enic driver did not operate under virtualization. * network interfaces using the IBM eHEA Ethernet device driver could not be successfully configured under low-memory conditions. * bonding with the "arp_validate=3" option may have prevented fail overs. * when running under virtualization, the acpi-cpufreq module wrote "Domain attempted WRMSR" errors to the dmesg log. * NFS clients may have experienced deadlocks during unmount. * the ixgbe driver double counted the number of received bytes and packets. * the Wacom Intuos3 Lens Cursor device did not work correctly with the Wacom Intuos3 12x12 tablet. * on the Itanium architecture, nanosleep caused commands which used it, such as sleep and usleep, to sleep for one second more than expected. * a panic and corruption of slab cache data structures occurred on 64-bit PowerPC systems when clvmd was running. * the NONSTOP_TSC feature did not perform correctly on the Intel microarchitecture when running in 32-bit mode. * keyboards may not have functioned on IBM eServer System p machines after a certain point during installation or afterward. * using Device Mapper Multipathing with the qla2xxx driver resulted in frequent path failures. * if the hypervisor was booted with the dom0_max_vcpus parameter set to less than the actual number of CPUs in the system, and the cpuspeed service was started, the hypervisor could crash. * using Openswan to provide an IPsec virtual private network eventually resulted in a CPU soft lockup and a system crash. * it was possible for posix_locks_deadlock to enter an infinite loop , causing a system hang. Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.