CVE-2012-0056

Description

From CVE.org

The mem_write function in the Linux kernel before 3.2.2, when ASLR is disabled, does not properly check permissions when writing to /proc/<pid>/mem, which allows local users to gain privileges by modifying process memory, as demonstrated by Mempodipper.

Statement

This issue did not affect the version of Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 as it did not backport the upstream commit 198214a7ee. This has been addressed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG via https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0052.html and https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0061.html. For more information, please read https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-69129.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

CVSS v2 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.26.9N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Access ComplexityLowMediumN/A
AuthenticationNoneNoneN/A
Confidentiality ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A
Integrity ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A
Availability ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A

Vector

Red Hat: AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

NVD: AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Application Data; Read Files or Directories

An attacker could bypass intended access restrictions to read sensitive data, either by reading the data directly from a data store that is not correctly restricted, or by accessing insufficiently-protected, privileged functionality to read the data.

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Application Data; Modify Files or Directories

An attacker could bypass intended access restrictions to modify sensitive data, either by writing the data directly to a data store that is not correctly restricted, or by accessing insufficiently-protected, privileged functionality to write the data.

Access Control

Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Bypass Protection Mechanism

An attacker could bypass intended access restrictions to gain privileges by modifying or reading critical data directly, or by accessing privileged functionality.

Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

An attacker could use elevated privileges to execute unauthorized commands or code.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

An attacker could gain unauthorized access to resources on the system and excessively consume those resources, leading to a denial of service.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank Jüri Aedla for reporting this issue.

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