#VU45023 Resource exhaustion in Linux kernel - CVE-2010-4251

Vulnerability identifier: #VU45023

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 6.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2010-4251

CWE-ID: CWE-400

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

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

Vendor: Linux Foundation

Description

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

The socket implementation in net/core/sock.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.34 does not properly manage a backlog of received packets, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by sending a large amount of network traffic, as demonstrated by netperf UDP tests.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 2.6.0 - 2.6.33.20

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External links
https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=8eae939f1400326b06d0c9afe53d2a484a326871
https://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-netdev/2010/3/3/6271093/thread
https://secunia.com/advisories/46397
https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.34
https://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/520102/100/0/threaded
https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/46637
https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2011-0012.html
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=657303

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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.