Improper locking in Linux kernel - CVE-2014-4171
Published: June 23, 2014 / Updated: December 18, 2018
Vulnerability identifier: #VU93788
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2014-4171
CWE-ID: CWE-667
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Linux Foundation
Affected software:
Linux kernel
Linux kernel
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a local user to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.
mm/shmem.c in the Linux kernel through 3.15.1 does not properly implement the interaction between range notification and hole punching, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (i_mutex hold) by using the mmap system call to access a hole, as demonstrated by interfering with intended shmem activity by blocking completion of (1) an MADV_REMOVE madvise call or (2) an FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE fallocate call.
How to mitigate CVE-2014-4171
Install update from vendor's website.
Sources
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-10/msg00006.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2014-10/msg00007.html
- http://marc.info/?l=linux-mm-commits&m=140303745420549&w=2
- http://ozlabs.org/~akpm/mmots/broken-out/shmem-fix-faulting-into-a-hole-while-its-punched.patch
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2014-1318.html
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2015-0102.html
- http://secunia.com/advisories/59777
- http://secunia.com/advisories/60564
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2014/06/18/11
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/68157
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1030450
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2334-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2335-1
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1111180