Knowledge Base

The VMware Knowledge Base provides support solutions, error messages and troubleshooting guides
 
Search the VMware Knowledge Base (KB)   View by Article ID
 

ESX Server 3.0.1, Patch ESX-1006678: Security Update to VMware-esx-vmx (1006678)

Details

Release Date: 09/30/08
Document Last Updated: 10/3/08
 

68e43b272569693b1f54fd206b2a89ca
Product Versions
ESX Server 3.0.1
Patch Classification
Security
Supersedes
Virtual Machine Migration or Reboot Required
Yes
ESX Server Host Reboot Required
Yes
PRs Fixed
309810
Affected Hardware

N/A

Affected Software
Guest operating systems: 64-bit Windows, 64-bit FreeBSD
RPMs Included
VMware-esx-vmx, VMware-esx-tools, VMware-esx-vmkernel, and VMware-esx-apps
Related CVE numbers
CVE-2008-4279

Summary

VMware addresses an in-guest privilege escalation on 64-bit guest operating systems.

Solution

Symptoms

VMware products emulate hardware functions including CPU, memory, and I/O.
 
A flaw in VMware's CPU hardware emulation could allow the virtual CPU to jump to an incorrect memory address. Exploitation of this issue on the guest operating system does not lead to a compromise of the host system, but could lead to a privilege escalation on guest operating systems. An attacker would need to have a user account on the guest operating system.

Affected guest operating systems include 64-bit Windows, 64-bit FreeBSD, and possibly other 64-bit operating systems.

The issue does not affect the 64-bit versions of Linux guest operating systems.

VMware would like to thank Derek Soeder for discovering this issue and working with us on its remediation.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Project (cve.mitre.org) has assigned the name CVE-2008-4279 this issue.

Deployment Considerations

N/A   

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows:

  1. Download patch ESX-1006678 from http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/vi3_patches.html.

  2. Log in to the ESX Server service console as root.

  3. Create a local depot directory.

    # mkdir -p /var/updates

    Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

  4. Change your working directory to /var/updates.

    # cd /var/updates
  5. Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.

  6. Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:

    # md5sum ESX-1006678.tgz

    The md5 checksum output should match the following:

    68e43b272569693b1f54fd206b2a89ca ESX-1006678.tgz
  7. Extract the compressed tar archive:

    # tar -xvzf ESX-1006678.tgz
  8. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1006678:

    # cd ESX-1006678

Installation Instructions

Note: All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using VMotion before applying the patch.  A reboot of the ESX Server host is required after applying this patch.
 
After you download and extract the archive, and if you are in the directory that you previously created, use the following command to install the update:

# esxupdate update

To run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1006678 update

For example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1006678 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown, below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1006678 update

For more information on how to use esxupdate, see the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf.

Keywords

esxpatch;esx301

Request a Product Feature

To request a new product feature or to provide feedback on a VMware product, please visit the Request a Product Feature page.

Feedback

  • 2 Ratings

Did this article help you?
This article resolved my issue.
This article did not resolve my issue.
This article helped but additional information was required to resolve my issue.
What can we do to improve this information? (4000 or fewer characters)
  • 2 Ratings
Actions
KB: