CVE-2012-2133

Description

From CVE.org

Use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel before 3.3.6, when huge pages are enabled, allows local users to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly gain privileges by interacting with a hugetlbfs filesystem, as demonstrated by a umount operation that triggers improper handling of quota data.

Statement

This issue did not affect the versions of the Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Future kernel updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux MRG 2 may address this issue.

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 Score6.24N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Access ComplexityHighHighN/A
AuthenticationNoneNoneN/A
Confidentiality ImpactCompleteNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactCompleteNoneN/A
Availability ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A

Vector

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Memory

The use of previously freed memory may corrupt valid data, if the memory area in question has been allocated and used properly elsewhere.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

If chunk consolidation occurs after the use of previously freed data, the process may crash when invalid data is used as chunk information.

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Memory

Read operations on freed memory can sometimes leak sensitive information instead of causing a crash

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

If malicious data is entered before chunk consolidation can take place, it may be possible to take advantage of a write-what-where primitive to execute arbitrary code. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank Shachar Raindel for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

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