Is it me or does SuSE seem to release lots and lots of Kernel updates to
2.4.21
YOU is inviting me to download 2.4.21-215 to replace the -202 that I updated
to only about a month ago, this one apparently fixes
"Various security related bugs have been fixed inside the Linux kernel which
could allow local attackers to either elevate their privileges or to cause a
DoS attack. The fixes consist of - a fix for the memleak in do_fork() - a fix
for the MCAST/setsockopt() buffer overflow (CAN-2004-0424) - a fix for the
permission problem on /proc/scsi/qla2300/HbaApiNode - a fix for the buffer
overflow in panic() (CAN-2004-0394)"
I am sure I am getting offered at least one kernel update a month (it
certainly feels like that sort of frequency)
I cannot remember applying any kernel updates to my previous installation of
SuSE 8.0, is it that SuSE are just very good at offering updates to
relatively minor flaws or is it that 2.4.21 is ridden with security flaws.
I wouldn't mind too much but currently my kernel is a little tainted by both
the Nvidia drivers and VMware modules, both of which I assume may need to be
compiled against the new kernel, also it just ruins my uptime score :o)
What do other users who are less fortunate and on 56k dial up do, persevere
the lengthy download or simply ignore most of which seem to be local
vulnerabilities ?
Do other distros have such an aggressive kernel update schedule ?