Linux » Linux Kernel : Security Vulnerabilities, CVEs, Published In March 2009

nfsd in the Linux kernel before 2.6.28.9 does not drop the CAP_MKNOD capability before handling a user request in a thread, which allows local users to create device nodes, as demonstrated on a filesystem that has been exported with the root_squash option.

The console selection feature in the Linux kernel 2.6.28 before 2.6.28.4, 2.6.25, and possibly earlier versions, when the UTF-8 console is used, allows physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) by selecting a small number of 3-byte UTF-8 characters, which triggers an "off-by-two memory error." NOTE: it is not clear whether this issue crosses privilege boundaries.

The inotify_read function in the Linux kernel 2.6.27 to 2.6.27.13, 2.6.28 to 2.6.28.2, and 2.6.29-rc3 allows local users to cause a denial of service (OOPS) via a read with an invalid address to an inotify instance, which causes the device's event list mutex to be unlocked twice and prevents proper synchronization of a data structure for the inotify instance.

The shm_get_stat function in ipc/shm.c in the shm subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.28.5, when CONFIG_SHMEM is disabled, misinterprets the data type of an inode, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (system hang) via an SHM_INFO shmctl call, as demonstrated by running the ipcs program.

The __secure_computing function in kernel/seccomp.c in the seccomp subsystem in the Linux kernel 2.6.28.7 and earlier on the x86_64 platform, when CONFIG_SECCOMP is enabled, does not properly handle (1) a 32-bit process making a 64-bit syscall or (2) a 64-bit process making a 32-bit syscall, which allows local users to bypass intended access restrictions via crafted syscalls that are misinterpreted as (a) stat or (b) chmod, a related issue to CVE-2009-0342 and CVE-2009-0343.

The audit_syscall_entry function in the Linux kernel 2.6.28.7 and earlier on the x86_64 platform does not properly handle (1) a 32-bit process making a 64-bit syscall or (2) a 64-bit process making a 32-bit syscall, which allows local users to bypass certain syscall audit configurations via crafted syscalls, a related issue to CVE-2009-0342 and CVE-2009-0343.

The ecryptfs_write_metadata_to_contents function in the eCryptfs functionality in the Linux kernel 2.6.28 before 2.6.28.9 uses an incorrect size when writing kernel memory to an eCryptfs file header, which triggers an out-of-bounds read and allows local users to obtain portions of kernel memory.

The icmp_send function in net/ipv4/icmp.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.25, when configured as a router with a REJECT route, does not properly manage the Protocol Independent Destination Cache (aka DST) in some situations involving transmission of an ICMP Host Unreachable message, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (connectivity outage) by sending a large series of packets to many destination IP addresses within this REJECT route, related to an "rt_cache leak."