Privilege escalation in Linux kernel vhost functionality



Published: 2019-09-22
Risk Medium
Patch available YES
Number of vulnerabilities 1
CVE-ID CVE-2019-14835
CWE-ID CWE-119
Exploitation vector Local network
Public exploit N/A
Vulnerable software
Subscribe
Linux kernel
Operating systems & Components / Operating system

Vendor Linux Foundation

Security Bulletin

This security bulletin contains one medium risk vulnerability.

1) Buffer overflow

EUVDB-ID: #VU21257

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 6.6 [CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-14835

CWE-ID: CWE-119 - Memory corruption

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to a boundary error within the vhost/vhost_net Linux kernel module during the live migration flow when processing dirty log entries. A privileged guest user can pass descriptors with invalid length to the host when migration is on the way, trigger buffer overflow and execute arbitrary code on the host OS.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 2.6.34 - 5.2.17

External links

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/09/17/1
http://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/060423bfdee3f8bc6e2c1bac97de24d5415e2bc4
http://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mst/vhost.git/commit/?h=for_linus&id=060423b...


Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated privileged user via the local network (LAN).

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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



###SIDEBAR###