The remote host is missing an update to kernel-patch-2.4.17-mips, kernel-patch-2.4.19-mips announced via advisory DSA 270-1.

https://secure1.securityspace.com/smysecure/catid.html?in=DSA%20270-1

The kernel module loader in Linux 2.2 and Linux 2.4 kernels has a flaw in ptrace. This hole allows local users to obtain root privileges by using ptrace to attach to a child process that is spawned by the kernel. Remote exploitation of this hole is not possible. This advisory only covers kernel packages for the big and little endian MIPS architectures. Other architectures will be covered by separate advisories. For the stable distribution (woody) this problem has been fixed in version 2.4.17-0.020226.2.woody1 of kernel-patch-2.4.17-mips (mips+mipsel) and in version 2.4.19-0.020911.1.woody1 of kernel-patch-2.4.19-mips (mips only). The old stable distribution (potato) is not affected by this problem for these architectures since mips and mipsel were first released with Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 (woody). For the unstable distribution (sid) this problem has been fixed in version 2.4.19-0.020911.6 of kernel-patch-2.4.19-mips (mips+mipsel). We recommend that you upgrade your kernel-images packages immediately.