CVE-2020-28974
Description
An out-of-bounds (OOB) SLAB memory access flaw was found in the Linux kernel's fbcon driver module. A bounds check failure allows a local attacker with special user privileges to gain access to out-of-bounds memory, leading to a system crash or leaking of internal kernel information. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to system availability.
Mitigation
Add 'nomodeset' option as kernel boot parameter to disable frame buffering in /etc/default/grub, and run 'grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg' and reboot.
# cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,msdos1)/vmlinuz-4.18.0-147.el8.x86_64 root=/dev/mapper/rhel_rhel8u2--1-root ro crashkernel=auto resume=/dev/mapper/rhel_rhel8u2--1-swap rd.lvm.lv=rhel_rhel8u2-1/root rd.lvm.lv=rhel_rhel8u2-1/swap nomodeset
# ls -l /dev/fb*
ls: cannot access '/dev/fb*': No such file or directory
The above said mitigation does not so effect for rhel6 kernel , and is only applicable for rhel7/8.
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 | 5 | 5 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Physical | Physical | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | High | High | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | Low | Low | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | Low | Low | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Red Hat CVSS v3 Score Explanation
- Attacker will need a physical access to the tty (AV:P),
- With privilege required is only to the root or users in tty group to access it. (PR:H)
- This flaw may have an OOB read of about 32 bytes (C:L)
- There can be a copy of data prior to display on the destination ttyX and this may even lead to a oob write causing an Integrity (I:L)
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
An attacker could get secret values such as cryptographic keys, PII, memory addresses, or other information that could be used in additional attacks.
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
Out-of-bounds memory could contain memory addresses or other information that can be used to bypass ASLR and other protection mechanisms in order to improve the reliability of exploiting a separate weakness for code execution.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An attacker could cause a segmentation fault or crash by causing memory to be read outside of the bounds of the buffer. This is especially likely when the code reads a variable amount of data and assumes that a sentinel exists to stop the read operation, such as a NUL in a string.
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
The read operation could produce other undefined or unexpected results.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Yuan Ming <yuanmingbuaa@gmail com> (Tsinghua University) for reporting this issue.
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