CVE-2019-3846
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Marvell wifi chip driver. A heap overflow in mwifiex_update_bss_desc_with_ie function in marvell/mwifiex/scan.c allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service(system crash) or execute arbitrary code.
Statement
This flaw is currently rated as Important as it is possible for an attacker to setup a wifi access point with identical configuration in another location and intercept have the system auto connect and possibly be exploited.
Mitigation
This flaw requires a system with marvell wifi network card to be attempting to connect to a attacker controlled wifi network. A temporary mitigation may be to only connect to known-good networks via wifi, or connect to a network via ethernet. Alternatively if wireless networking is not used the mwifiex kernel module can be blacklisted to prevent misuse of the vulnerable code.
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 Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 8 | 8.8 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Adjacent Network | Adjacent Network | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | None | N/A |
| User Interaction | Required | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | High | High | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | High | High | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
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.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank huangwen (ADLab of Venustech) for reporting this issue.
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