CVE-2017-1000253
Find out more about CVE-2017-1000253 from the MITRE CVE dictionary dictionary and NIST NVD.
Statement
This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and 6. This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 prior to kernel version 3.10.0-693, that is Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 GA kernel version. Kernel versions after 3.10.0-693 contain the fix and are thus not vulnerable.
This issue affects the Linux kernel-rt packages prior to the kernel version 3.10.0-693.rt56.617 (Red Hat Enteprise Linux for Realtime) and 3.10.0-693.2.1.rt56.585.el6rt (Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2). The latest Linux kernel-rt packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Realtime and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 are not vulnerable.
Future Linux kernel updates for the respective releases will address this issue.
CVSS v3 metrics
| CVSS3 Base Score | 7.8 |
|---|---|
| CVSS3 Base Metrics | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Attack Vector | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low |
| User Interaction | None |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High |
| Integrity Impact | High |
| Availability Impact | High |
Red Hat Security Errata
| Platform | Errata | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Long Life (v. 5.9 server) (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2802 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Update Support 6.6 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2797 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Update Support 7.3 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2793 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2795 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Update Support 6.7 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2796 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extended Update Support 7.2 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2794 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server TUS (v. 6.6) (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2797 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 5 ELS) (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2801 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Update Support 6.2 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2800 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Update Support 6.5 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2798 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Update Support 6.4 (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2799 | 2017-09-26 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server TUS (v. 6.5) (kernel) | RHSA-2017:2798 | 2017-09-26 |
Affected Packages State
| Platform | Package | State |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 | kernel-rt | Not affected |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-rt | Not affected |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-alt | Not affected |
Acknowledgements
Red Hat would like to thank Qualys Research Labs for reporting this issue.Mitigation
By setting vm.legacy_va_layout to 1 we can effectively disable the exploitation of this issue by switching to the legacy mmap layout. The mmap allocations start much lower in the process address space and follow the bottom-up allocation model. As such, the initial PIE executable mapping is far from the reserved stack area and cannot interfere with the stack.
64-bit processes on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 are forced to use the legacy virtual address space layout regardless of the vm.legacy_va_layout value.
Note: Applications that have demands for a large linear address space (such as certain databases) may be unable to handle the legacy memory layout proposed using this mitigation. We recommend to test your systems and applications before deploying this mitigation on production systems.
Edit the /etc/sysctl.conf file as root, and add or amend:
vm.legacy_va_layout = 1
To apply this setting, run the /sbin/sysctl -p command as the root user to reload the settings from /etc/sysctl.conf.
Verify that vm.legacy_va_layout is now set to defined value:
$ /sbin/sysctl vm.legacy_va_layout
vm.legacy_va_layout = 1
