CVE-2016-3070

Description

A security flaw was found in the Linux kernel that an attempt to move page mapped by AIO ring buffer to the other node triggers NULL pointer dereference at trace_writeback_dirty_page(), because aio_fs_backing_dev_info.dev is 0.

Statement

This issue does not affect the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 as the code with the flaw is not present in the products listed.

This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and MRG-2. Future updates for the respective releases may address the 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 Score4.74.6N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Access ComplexityMediumLowN/A
AuthenticationNoneNoneN/A
Confidentiality ImpactNonePartialN/A
Integrity ImpactNonePartialN/A
Availability ImpactCompletePartialN/A

Vector

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

NULL pointer dereferences usually result in the failure of the process unless exception handling (on some platforms) is available and implemented. Even when exception handling is being used, it can still be very difficult to return the software to a safe state of operation.

Integrity,Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory

In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.

Acknowledgements

This issue was discovered by Jan Stancek (Red Hat).

Frequently Asked Questions

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