One of the security vulnerabilities patched by this new kernel update was discovered by Andy Lutomirski in Linux kernel’s KVM (Kernel-based virtual machine) implementation, which could allow an unprivileged KVM guest user to escalate their privileges or crash the guest operating system (CVE-2018-1087). The second security flaw addressed in this kernel update was discovered by Nick Peterson of Everdox Tech LLC in the way Linux kernel handles exceptions delivered by Mov SS or Pop SS instructions, allowing an unprivileged user to cause a denial of service and crash the kernel (CVE-2018-8897).