Information disclosure in Linux Kernel

1) Information disclosure

EUVDB-ID: #VU16896

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 5.2 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:P/RL:U/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-5489

CWE-ID: CWE-200 - Information exposure

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain access to potentially sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to a flaw in the mincore() implementation in mm/mincore.c. A local attacker can observe page cache access patterns of other processes on the same system and sniff secret information.

Mitigation

Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address the vulnerability.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 4.19.1 - 4.19.13

External links

http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=574823bfab82d9d8fa47f422778043fbb4b4f50e
http://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/574823bfab82d9d8fa47f422778043fbb4b4f50e
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/05/boffins_beat_page_cache/

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. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.