#VU30799 NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2019-15924

Vulnerability identifier: #VU30799

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-15924

CWE-ID: CWE-476

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Linux kernel
Operating systems & Components / Operating system

Vendor: Linux Foundation

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference error in the Linux kernel before 5.0.11. fm10k_init_module in drivers/net/ethernet/intel/fm10k/fm10k_main.c has a NULL pointer dereference because there is no -ENOMEM upon an alloc_workqueue failure. A remote attacker can perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Mitigation
Update to version 5.0.11.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 5.0.0 - 5.0.10

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External links
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00064.html
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-09/msg00066.html
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.0.11
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/01ca667133d019edc9f0a1f70a272447c84ec41f
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/09/msg00014.html
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/09/msg00015.html
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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