[SA19078] Linux Kernel "die_if_kernel()" Potential Denial of Service

TITLE:
Linux Kernel "die_if_kernel()" Potential Denial of Service

SECUNIA ADVISORY ID:
SA19078

VERIFY ADVISORY:
http://secunia.com/advisories/19078/

CRITICAL:
Not critical

IMPACT:
DoS

WHERE:
Local system

OPERATING SYSTEM:
Linux Kernel 2.6.x
http://secunia.com/product/2719/

DESCRIPTION:
A vulnerability has been reported in the Linux kernel, which
potentially can be exploited by malicious, local users to cause a DoS
(Denial of Service).

The vulnerability is caused due to the "die_if_kernel()" function in
"arch/ia64/kernel/unaligned.c" being erroneously marked with a
"noreturn" attribute. This can potentially be exploited to cause a
DoS on Itanium systems, when the kernel is compiled with certain
version of the gcc compiler.

SOLUTION:
Update to version 2.6.15.6.
http://www.kernel.org/

PROVIDED AND/OR DISCOVERED BY:
The vendor credits Alan and Gareth.

ORIGINAL ADVISORY:
Kernel.org:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.15.6

About:
This Advisory was delivered by Secunia as a free service to help
everybody keeping their systems up to date against the latest
vulnerabilities.

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