CVE-2016-7983
Description
Multiple out of bounds read and integer overflow vulnerabilities were found in tcpdump affecting the decoding of various protocols. An attacker could create a crafted pcap file or send specially crafted packets to the network segment where tcpdump is running in live capture mode (without -w) which could cause it to display incorrect data, crash or enter an infinite loop.
Statement
Red Hat Product Security has rated these issues as having Moderate security impact. These issues may be fixed in a future minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. For additional information, refer to the Issue Severity Classification: https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/.
Mitigation
When invoked with the "-w" option, to write raw packets to a pcap file (for forensic purposes or offline examination), tcpdump does not use the protocol decoding subsystem and is not affected by these flaws. Red Hat Product Security recommends that any unattended uses of tcpdump use this option to ensure uninterrupted packet capture.
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 | 6.5 | 9.8 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | 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 | None | High | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | High | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity
Technical Impact: Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Write operations could cause memory corruption. In some cases, an adversary can modify control data such as return addresses in order to execute unexpected code.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
Attempting to access out-of-range, invalid, or unauthorized memory could cause the product to crash.
Other
Technical Impact: Unexpected State
Subsequent write operations can produce undefined or unexpected results.
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank the Tcpdump project for reporting this issue.
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