Privilege escalation in Linux kernel

1) Out-of-bounds write

EUVDB-ID: #VU55975

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 6.8 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2021-3490

CWE-ID: CWE-787 - Out-of-bounds write

Exploit availability: Yes

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to escalate privileges on the system.

The vulnerability exists due to a boundary error when processing untrusted input in bpf. The eBPF ALU32 bounds tracking for bitwise ops (AND, OR and XOR) in the Linux kernel did not properly update 32-bit bounds, which could be turned into out of bounds reads and writes in the Linux kernel and therefore, arbitrary code execution. A local user can run a specially crafted program to trigger an out-of-bounds write and execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 5.10.37 - 5.13 rc4

External links

http://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-4949-1
http://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-21-606/
http://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/bpf/bpf.git/commit/?id=049c4e13714ecbca567b4d5f6d563f05d431c80e
http://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-4950-1
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/05/11/11
http://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210716-0004/

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.