CVE-2016-1583

Description

It was found that stacking a file system over procfs in the Linux kernel could lead to a kernel stack overflow due to deep nesting, as demonstrated by mounting ecryptfs over procfs and creating a recursion by mapping /proc/environ. An unprivileged, local user could potentially use this flaw to escalate their privileges on the system.

Statement

This issue affects the Linux kernels as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6 and may addressed in a future update.

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 Score8.17.8N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Attack ComplexityHighLowN/A
Privileges RequiredNoneLowN/A
User InteractionNoneNoneN/A
ScopeChangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityHighHighN/A
Integrity ImpactHighHighN/A
Availability ImpactHighHighN/A

Vector

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

NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: Modify Memory; 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: Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Bypass Protection Mechanism

Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability,Access Control,Other

Technical Impact: Modify Memory; 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.

Frequently Asked Questions

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