Local Vulnerabilities in Current Kernels
Recent kernel versions back to the older kernel 2.6.17 may contain a vulnerability that can be exploited by local attackers.
Although a fix for the vulnerability is now available, the solution does not seem to be totally secure. A vulnerability gives local attackers the ability to manipulate or hijack the system. Network attackers are said not to work. The vulnerability has been confirmed in kernel versions 2.6.17 through 2.6.24.1. A new kernel version, 2.24.2, was released Monday, however, the developers were not entirely sure if the vulnerability had really been removed. The current developer kernel 2.6.25 is said to have reliably fixed the security bug.
The bug was caused by pointer handling in programs. The "vmsplice" function, which was affected, was introduced with kernel 2.6.17. It supports faster transfer between various memory areas. The vulnerability was caused by incorrect validation by the "vmsplice_to_user()", "copy_from_user_mmap_sem()" and "get_iovec_page_array()" functions prior to performing memory operations. Under certain circumstances attackers could use a carefully crafted call to "vmsplice()" to read or write to kernel memory space.
Issue 163/2014
Buy this issue as a PDF
Digital Issue: Price $9.99
(incl. VAT)
Tag Cloud
News
-
KDE Announces Software Compilation 4.13
New release comes with better semantic search and improvements to Kontact.
-
Coverity: Open Source Code has Fewer Defects
Annual code quality report shows FOSS is more secure at all project size levels.
-
An Even Smaller Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced an even smaller version of the tiny computer that will fit into a DIMM slot.
-
Freaky Privilege Escalation Attack
A new class of problems lets a malicious app pre-configure an invisible privilege update.
-
Facebook Rolls Out New PHP-like Programming Language
New Hack language adds static typing and other conveniences.
-
Fedora Announces Innovative Crytography Policy System
New crypto policy system will offer easier configuration and more uniform security.
-
Shuttleworth Calls for Declarative Firmware
Ubuntu founder denounces insecurity in proprietary, close-source software blobs.
-
New TLS Attack Takes the S out of HTTPS
Vulnerability affects many Linux web servers
-
Munich Adopts Kolab
The Bavarian capital shuns Microsoft, Google, and other alternatives to implement an open source groupware solution.
-
Canonical Announces Ubuntu Smartphones
Phone vendor partnerships bring Mark Shuttleworth's dream of Ubuntu on a phone a step closer to reality.