From time to time Canonical releases new kernel versions to, above all, fix security flaws. The last time was just three weeks ago, when they released an update so unimportant that we came close to not reporting it here on Ubunlog. This time, the update has been somewhat more important, so much so that they have published 4 USN reports, two of them with their "encore" because it also affects previous versions of Ubuntu.
The versions affected by these security flaws are all versions of Ubuntu that are supported, which are Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS in their normal life cycle and Ubuntu 14.04 in their ESM cycle. It is difficult to know exactly how many security flaws have been covered in this new version of the kernel, but the report USN-4284-1 mentions a total of 23 faults fixed in Eoan Ermine and Bionic Beaver, the last two versions of Canonical's system that are still supported.
The new kernel fixes at least 23 security flaws
Among the 23 failures mentioned in this report there are some of medium urgency, but most are of low or negligible urgency. On the other hand, the following kernel reports have also been published:
- USN-4285-1, which affects Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
- USN-4286-1 y USN-4286-2, which affect Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 ESM respectively.
- USN-4287-1 y USN-4287-2, which affect Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS the first and Ubuntu 14.04 ESM the second.
In addition to kernel bugs, other security flaws in Ubuntu software have also been fixed in the last few hours, and I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to include them in this article. In total, six other USN reports have been published:
- USN-4283-1: three vulnerabilities of QEMU fixed in Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
- USN-4280-1 y USN-4280-2: a vulnerability of ClamAV fixed in Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS the first and Ubuntu 14.04 ESM and Ubuntu 12.04 ESM the second.
- USN-4281-1: five vulnerabilities of WebKitGTK + fixed in Ubuntu 19.10 and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
- USN-4282-1: a vulnerability of PostgreSQL fixed in Ubuntu 19.10 and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
- USN-4279-1: three vulnerabilities of PHP fixed in all supported versions, from Ubuntu 12.04 ESM to Ubuntu 19.10.
Update the packages from your software center
Although there is no particularly serious bug, updating and protecting ourselves from all fixed vulnerabilities is as simple as opening our software center (or Software Update app) and install the packages that have been published in the last 48 hours. To ensure that all changes take effect, the operating system will need to be restarted.