CVE-2013-1985

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ModerateModerate ImpactWhat does this mean?

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Description

The CVE Program describes this issue as:

Integer overflow in X.org libXinerama 1.1.2 and earlier allows X servers to trigger allocation of insufficient memory and a buffer overflow via vectors related to the XineramaQueryScreens function.

Statement

This issue affects the libXinerama package in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having Moderate security impact. This issue is not planned to be fixed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as it is now in Production 3 Phase of the support and maintenance life cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/

This issue affects the libXinerama package in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Red Hat Product Security has rated this issue as having Moderate security impact. This issue is not planned to be fixed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as it is now in Production 3 Phase of the support and maintenance life cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/

Additional information

  • Bugzilla 959056: libXinerama: Integer overflow leading to heap-based buffer overflow
  • CWE-190->CWE-122: Integer Overflow or Wraparound leads to Heap-based Buffer Overflow
  • FAQ: Frequently asked questions about CVE-2013-1985

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

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 HatNVD

CVSS v2 Base Score

4.3

6.8

Attack Vector

Adjacent Network

Network

Access Complexity

High

Medium

Authentication

None

None

Confidentiality Impact

Partial

Partial

Integrity Impact

Partial

Partial

Availability Impact

Partial

Partial

CVSS v2 Vector

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

CWE-190

Availability

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

This weakness can generally lead to undefined behavior and therefore crashes. When the calculated result is used for resource allocation, this weakness can cause too many (or too few) resources to be allocated, possibly enabling crashes if the product requests more resources than can be provided.

Integrity

Technical Impact: Modify Memory

If the value in question is important to data (as opposed to flow), simple data corruption has occurred. Also, if the overflow/wraparound results in other conditions such as buffer overflows, further memory corruption may occur.

Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism

This weakness can sometimes trigger buffer overflows, which can be used to execute arbitrary code. This is usually outside the scope of the product's implicit security policy.

Availability,Other

Technical Impact: Alter Execution Logic; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)

If the overflow/wraparound occurs in a loop index variable, this could cause the loop to terminate at the wrong time - too early, too late, or not at all (i.e., infinite loops). With too many iterations, some loops could consume too many resources such as memory, file handles, etc., possibly leading to a crash or other DoS.

Access Control

Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism

If integer values are used in security-critical decisions, such as calculating quotas or allocation limits, integer overflows can be used to cause an incorrect security decision.

CWE-122

Availability

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

Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Modify Memory

Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. Besides important user data, heap-based overflows can be used to overwrite function pointers that may be living in memory, pointing it to the attacker's code. Even in applications that do not explicitly use function pointers, the run-time will usually leave many in memory. For example, object methods in C++ are generally implemented using function pointers. Even in C programs, there is often a global offset table used by the underlying runtime.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control,Other

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism; Other

When the consequence is arbitrary code execution, this can often be used to subvert any other security service.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

What is a mitigation?

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

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