Security Bulletin #00161 

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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
________________________________________________________________________________

The information contained in this Security Bulletin is provided "AS
IS." 
Sun makes no warranties of any kind whatsoever with respect to the information 
contained in this Security Bulletin. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, 
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OR 
IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ARE 
HEREBY DISCLAIMED AND EXCLUDED TO THE EXTENT ALLOWED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

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OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY 
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN 
THIS SECURITY BULLETIN, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF 
THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

If any of the above provisions are held to be in violation of applicable law, 
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to the extent necessary for this disclaimer to be otherwise enforceable in 
such jurisdiction.
________________________________________________________________________________

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
_______________________________________________________________________________
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

F.  To receive information or subscribe to our CWS (Customer Warning System) 
    mailing list, send email to:
    
                security-alert@sun.com
   
    with a subject line (not body) containing one of the following commands:

        Command         Information Returned/Action Taken
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        query [topic]   The email is treated as an inquiry and is forwarded to 
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        send topic      A short status summary or bulletin. For example, to 
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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 
Security Bulletin is not modified in any way and is attributed to 
Sun Microsystems, Inc. and provided that such reproduction and distribution 
is performed for non-commercial purposes.
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