CVE-2010-3859

Description

From CVE.org

Multiple integer signedness errors in the TIPC implementation in the Linux kernel before 2.6.36.2 allow local users to gain privileges via a crafted sendmsg call that triggers a heap-based buffer overflow, related to the tipc_msg_build function in net/tipc/msg.c and the verify_iovec function in net/core/iovec.c.

Statement

Red Hat is aware of this issue and is tracking it via the following bug: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/CVE-2010-3859.

This issue did not affect the version of Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, 6 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG as they did not include support for Transparent Inter-Process Communication Protocol (TIPC). A future kernel update in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 may address this flaw. As a preventive measure, we plan to include the fixes in a future kernel update in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.

Mitigation

For users that do not run applications that use TIPC, you can prevent the TIPC
module from being loaded by adding the following entry to the end of the
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file:

blacklist tipc

This way, the TIPC module cannot be loaded accidentally, which may occur if an
application that requires TIPC is started. A reboot is not necessary for this
change to take effect but do make sure the module is not loaded in the first
place. You can verify that by running:

lsmod | grep tipc

You may also consider removing the CAP_SYS_MODULE capability from the current
global capability set to prevent kernel modules from being loaded or unloaded.
The CAP_SYS_MODULE has a capability number of 16 (see linux/capability.h). The
default value has all the bits set. To remove this capability, you have to
clear the 16th bit of the default 32-bit value, e.g. 0xffffff ^ (1 << 16):

echo 0xFFFEFFFF > /proc/sys/kernel/cap-bound

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 Score6.96.9N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Access ComplexityMediumMediumN/A
AuthenticationNoneNoneN/A
Confidentiality ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A
Integrity ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A
Availability ImpactCompleteCompleteN/A

Vector

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

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

Frequently Asked Questions

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