VMware

Download Patch ESX-1256636 for VMware ESX Server 3.0.0


 

Released 5/15/07

Download Size:
3.6 MB

Virtual Machine and Host Downtime Requirements:
All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using VMotion before applying the patch. No reboot of the ESX Server Host is required after applying this patch.

 

Security Issues

This patch fixes an issue where some VMware products support storing configuration information in VMware system files. Under some circumstances, a malicious user could instruct the virtual machine process (VMX) to store malformed data, causing an error. This error could enable a successful Denial-of-Service attack on guest operating systems.

Thanks to Sungard Ixsecurity for identifying this issue.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the name  CVE-2007-1877 to this issue.

Resolved Issues

This patch is a partial fix for memory leaks that can occur in VMware Tools. You must also install patch ESX-7104553 to complete the fix for this issue. Patches ESX-7104553 and ESX-1256636 can be installed in any order. After both patches have been installed, you must upgrade the VMware Tools installed in all virtual machines on that host in order to complete this fix and to end warning messages that your virtual machine does not have the latest version of VMware Tools.

Applicability

This patch is for ESX Server 3.0.0 only. For the related patch for ESX Server 3.0.1, please refer to http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/esx-6704314-patch.html.

View KB 1256636 for more information on this patch.

Download Instructions

Download and verify the patch bundle as follows :

  1. Download patch ESX-1256636 by clicking on the link above.
  2. Log into the ESX Server service console as root.
  3. Create a local depot directory.

    # mkdir -p /var/updates

    Note: VMware recommends that you use the updates directory.

  4. Change your working directory to /var/updates.

    # cd /var/updates

  5. Download the tar file into the /var/updates directory.
  6. Verify the integrity of the downloaded tar file:

    # md5sum ESX-1256636.tgz

  7. The md5 checksum output should match the following:

    e7f0b1920bd2a609d1c3b18249717f2c ESX-1256636.tgz

  8. Extract the compressed tar archive:

    # tar -xvzf ESX-1256636.tgz

  9. Change to the newly created directory, /var/updates/ESX-1256636:

    # cd ESX-1256636

Installation Instructions

Note: All virtual machines on the host must be either shut down or migrated using VMotion before applying the patch. No reboot of the ESX Server Host is required after applying this patch.

Once you have downloaded and extracted the archive, and if you are in the directory you created above, install the update using the following command:

# esxupdate update

If you want to run esxupdate from a different directory, you must specify the bundle path in the command:

# esxupdate -r file://<directory>/ESX-1256636 update

for example, if the host is called depot:

# esxupdate -r file:///depot/var/updates/ESX-1256636 update

During the update process, logs appear on the terminal. You can specify the verbosity of esxupdate logs by using the -v option as shown below.

# esxupdate -v 10 file://<directory>/ESX-1256636 update

for more information on using esxupdate, please refer to the Patch Management for ESX Server 3 tech note at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_esxupdate.pdf.