Infinite loop in Linux kernel

1) Infinite loop

EUVDB-ID: #VU44076

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 4.8 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2011-4621

CWE-ID: CWE-835 - Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local authenticated user to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The Linux kernel before 2.6.37 does not properly implement a certain clock-update optimization, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (system hang) via an application that executes code in a loop.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 2.6.0 - 2.6.36.4

External links

http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.37
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=f26f9aff6aaf67e9a430d16c266f91b13a5bff64
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/21/6
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=769711
http://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/f26f9aff6aaf67e9a430d16c266f91b13a5bff64

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.