SB2018012512 - Red Hat update for Linux Kernel



SB2018012512 - Red Hat update for Linux Kernel

Published: January 25, 2018 Updated: December 15, 2022

Security Bulletin ID SB2018012512
Severity
Medium
Patch available
YES
Number of vulnerabilities 2
Exploitation vector Local access
Highest impact Code execution

Breakdown by Severity

Medium 50% Low 50%
  • Low
  • Medium
  • High
  • Critical

Description

This security bulletin contains information about 2 secuirty vulnerabilities.


1) Race condition (CVE-ID: CVE-2017-1000405)

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

The vulnerability exists due to a race condition within touch_pmd() function in mmhugemem.c file when handling THPs. A local user can read read-only huge pages using the get_user_pages() function and overwrite arbitrary huge pages and files mapped via THP.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may allow an attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

This vulnerability is a result of patch against a another privilege escalation vulnerability in Linux kernel known as Dirty Cow (CVE-2016-5195).


2) Privilege escalation (CVE-ID: CVE-2016-5195)

The vulnerability allows a  local user to obtain elevated privileges on the target system.
The weakness is due to race condition in the kernel memory subsystem in the management of copy-on-write operations on read-only memory mappings that lets attackers to overwrite kernel memory and gain kernel-level privileges.
Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in gaining of root privileges on the vulnerable system.

Note: the vulnerability was being actively exploited.

Remediation

Install update from vendor's website.