CVE-2018-1000199

Description

An address corruption flaw was discovered in the Linux kernel built with hardware breakpoint (CONFIG_HAVE_HW_BREAKPOINT) support. While modifying a h/w breakpoint via 'modify_user_hw_breakpoint' routine, an unprivileged user/process could use this flaw to crash the system kernel resulting in DoS OR to potentially escalate privileges on a the system.

Statement

This issue does not affect the versions of Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

This issue affects the version of the kernel package as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2. Future kernel updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 may address this issue.

Mitigation

To mitigate this issue:
1) Save the following script in a 'CVE-2018-1000199.stp' file.
---
probe kernel.function("ptrace_set_debugreg") {
        if ($n < 4)
            $n = 4; /* set invalid debug register #, returns -EIO */
}
probe begin {
        printk(0, "CVE-2018-1000199 mitigation loaded")
}
probe end {
        printk(0, "CVE-2018-1000199 mitigation unloaded")
}
---
2) Install systemtap package and its dependencies
     # yum install -y systemtap systemtap-runtime
     # yum install -y kernel-devel kernel-debuginfo kernel-debuginfo-common

3) Build the mitigation kernel module as root.
    # stap -r `uname -r` -m cve_2018_1000199.ko -g CVE-2018-1000199.stp -p4

4) Load the mitigation module as root
    # staprun -L cve_2018_1000199.ko

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 v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score7.85.5N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Attack ComplexityHighLowN/A
Privileges RequiredLowLowN/A
User InteractionNoneNoneN/A
ScopeChangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityHighNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactHighNoneN/A
Availability ImpactHighHighN/A

Vector

Red Hat: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Other

Technical Impact: Varies by Context

The code could be left in a bad state.

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank Andy Lutomirski for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

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