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Sun Microsystems, Inc. Security Bulletin
Bulletin Number: #00161
Date: December 18, 1997
Cross-Ref:
Title: Intel Pentium processor invalid instruction erratum
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1. Bulletins Topics
Sun announces the release of patches for Solaris(tm) 2.6_x86, 2.5.1_x86,
2.5_x86, and 2.4_x86 which relate to the Pentium processor invalid
instruction erratum.
Sun strongly recommends that you install the patches listed in section 3
immediately if you are running Solaris 2.6_x86, 2.5.1_x86, 2.5_x86, and
2.4_x86 on systems affected by the Pentium processor invalid
instruction erratum.
2. Understanding the Vulnerability
Any user may execute an "Invalid Operand with Locked Compare Exchange
8Byte (CMPXCHG8B)" instruction and cause a Pentium processor to hang. The
instruction can be part of any user program. This vulnerability, if
exploited, allows unprivileged users to deny service to all users on the
system by causing it to hang. Please visit the following web page for
more information:
http://www.intel.com/support/processors/pentium/ppiie/index.html
3. List of Patches
The following patches are available in relation to the above problem.
OS version Patch ID
_________________ ________
Solaris 5.6_x86 105639-02
Solaris 5.5.1_x86 105638-02
Solaris 5.5_x86 105640-02
Solaris 5.4_x86 105653-02
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APPENDICES
A. Patches listed in this bulletin are available to all Sun customers via
World Wide Web at:
<URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/pubpatches/patches.html>
B. Checksums for the patches listed in this bulletin are available via
World Wide Web at:
<URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/pubpatches/patches.html>
C. Sun security bulletins are available via World Wide Web at:
<URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins>
D. Sun Security Coordination Team's PGP key is available via World Wide Web
at:
<URL:http://sunsolve.sun.com/sunsolve/secbulletins/SunSCkey.txt>
E. To report or inquire about a security problem with Sun software, contact
one or more of the following:
- Your local Sun answer centers
- Your representative computer security response team, such as CERT
- Sun Security Coordination Team. Send email to:
security-alert@sun.com
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Copyright 1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Sun,
Sun Microsystems, Solaris and SunOS are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. This
Security Bulletin may be reproduced and distributed, provided that this
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