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Home >> Browse Vulnerability Assessment Database >> Debian Local Security Checks >> [DSA423] DSA-423-1 linux-kernel-2.4.17-ia64

Vulnerability Assessment Details

[DSA423] DSA-423-1 linux-kernel-2.4.17-ia64

Vulnerability Assessment Summary
DSA-423-1 linux-kernel-2.4.17-ia64

Detailed Explanation for this Vulnerability Assessment

The IA-64 maintainers fixed several security related bugs in the Linux
kernel 2.4.17 used for the IA-64 architecture, mostly by backporting
fixes from 2.4.18. The corrections are listed below with the
identification from the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)
project:
Multiple ethernet network interface card (NIC) device drivers do
not pad frames with null bytes, which permits remote attackers to
obtain information from previous packets or kernel memory by using
malformed packets, as demonstrated by Etherleak.
Linux kernel 2.4.10 through 2.4.21-pre4 does not properly handle
the O_DIRECT feature, which permits local attackers with write
rights to read portions of previously deleted files, or cause
file system corruption.
The kernel module loader in Linux kernel 2.2.x before 2.2.25, and
2.4.x before 2.4.21, permits local users to gain root rights
by using ptrace to attach to a child process which is spawned by
the kernel.
The virtual file /proc/tty/driver/serial in Linux 2.4.x reveals
the exact number of characters used in serial links, which could
permit local users to obtain potentially sensitive information such
as the length of passwords.
A race condition in the way env_start and env_end pointers are
initialized in the execve system call and used in fs/proc/base.c
on Linux 2.4 permits local users to cause a denial of service
(crash).
The execve system call in Linux 2.4.x records the file descriptor
of the executable process in the file table of the calling
process, which permits local users to gain read access to
restricted file descriptors.
The /proc filesystem in Linux permits local users to obtain
sensitive information by opening various entries in /proc/self
before executing a setuid program, which causes the program to
fail to change the ownership and permissions of those entries.
The STP protocol, as enabled in Linux 2.4.x, does not provide
sufficient security by design, which permits attackers to modify
the bridge topology.
The STP protocol implementation in Linux 2.4.x does not properly
verify certain lengths, which could permit attackers to cause a
denial of service.
Linux 2.4.x permits remote attackers to spoof the bridge Forwarding
table via forged packets whose source addresses are the same as
the target.
An integer overflow in brk system call (do_brk function) for Linux
kernel 2.4.22 and earlier permits local users to gain root
rights.
The mremap system call (do_mremap) in Linux kernel 2.4 and 2.6
does not properly perform boundary checks, which permits local
users to cause a denial of service and possibly gain rights by
causing a remapping of a virtual memory area (VMA) to create a
zero length VMA.
For the stable distribution (woody) this problem has been fixed in
version kernel-image-2.4.17-ia64 for the ia64 architecture. Other
architectures are already or will be fixed separately.
For the unstable distribution (sid) this problem will b
[...]

Solution : http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-423
Network Security Threat Level: High

Networks Security ID: 10330, 6535, 6763, 7112, 8002, 8042, 8233

Vulnerability Assessment Copyright: This script is (C) 2005 Michel Arboi

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