SB2013032207 - NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel

Description

This security bulletin contains information about 1 security vulnerability.

1) NULL pointer dereference (CVE-ID: CVE-2013-1826)

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference error in net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c in the Linux kernel before 3.5.7 does not properly handle error conditions in dump_one_state function calls, which allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) by leveraging the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability. Per https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=919384 "This issue affects the version of Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Future kernel updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 may address this issue." Per: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476. A remote attacker can perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Remediation

Cybersecurity Help is not aware of any official remediation provided by the vendor.

References

• http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=864745d291b5ba80ea0bd0edcbe67273de368836
• http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2013-0744.html
• http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.5.7
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/03/07/2
• http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1829-1
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=919384
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/864745d291b5ba80ea0bd0edcbe67273de368836