The latest Red Hat Bug Fix Advisory (RHAB) informs users of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (RHEL) 5.x and Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5.x operating system about a new kernel update that fixes multiple vulnerabilities.

According to the kernel bug fix advisory, two security flaws have been discovered and patched in the Linux kernel 2.6.18 packages. The first one is related to the incorrect setting of an utrace flag, which caused the kernel to no longer handle the NULL pointer reference in the utrace_unsafe_exec() function, leading to a system crash. The second vulnerability is about a delay in the reset execution of a newly changed firmware.

"Updated kernel packages that fix two bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system. [...] Users of kernel are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect," reads the announcement.

Also applies to CentOS 5.x series of operating systems

The aforementioned kernel update also applies to the CentOS 5.x series of operating system, which are based on the freely distributed sources of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x distribution. The Linux kernel packages have been updated for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x and CentOS 5.x OSes to version 2.6.18-407.el5, available for both 64-bit (x86_64) and 32-bit (i686) hardware architectures.

All users that use an operating system from the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5.x, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5.x, or CentOS 5.x series of GNU/Linux operating system are urged to update their kernel packages to the new version as soon as possible. To update, use the integrated package manager, either graphical or command-line, and make sure that you reboot your computer after the kernel update has been applied.