CVE-2024-6409
Description
A race condition vulnerability was discovered in how signals are handled by OpenSSH's server (sshd). If a remote attacker does not authenticate within a set time period, then sshd's SIGALRM handler is called asynchronously. However, this signal handler calls various functions that are not async-signal-safe, for example, syslog(). As a consequence of a successful attack, in the worst case scenario, an attacker may be able to perform a remote code execution (RCE) as an unprivileged user running the sshd server.
Statement
Red Hat rates the severity of this flaw as Moderate for both Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and OpenShift Container Platform (OCP). While there are many similarities to CVE-2024-6387, the important difference is that any possible remote code execution is limited to an unprivileged child of the SSHD server. This additional restriction on access reduces the overall security impact.
This vulnerability only affects the versions of OpenSSH shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. Upstream versions of sshd are not impacted by this flaw.
The affected versions of OCP are 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, and 4.16 while 4.12 and earlier versions of OCP are not affected.
Mitigation
The process is identical to CVE-2024-6387, by disabling LoginGraceTime. See that CVE page for additional details.
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 | 7 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Modify Application Data; Modify Memory; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
It may be possible to cause data corruption and possibly execute arbitrary code by modifying global variables or data structures at unexpected times, violating the assumptions of code that uses this global data.
Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
If a signal handler interrupts code that is executing with privileges, it may be possible that the signal handler will also be executed with elevated privileges, possibly making subsequent exploits more severe.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Solar Designer (CIQ/Rocky Linux) for reporting this issue.
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