Race condition in Linux kernel 2.6.17.4 and earlier allows local users to gain root privileges by using prctl with PR_SET_DUMPABLE in a way that causes /proc/self/environ to become setuid root.

Updated kernel packages that fix security issues are now available. 

This update has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team. 

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system. 

These new kernel packages contain fixes for the security issues described below :


From Red Hat Security Advisory 2006-0617 :

* a flaw in the proc file system that allowed a local user to use a suid-wrapper for scripts to gain root privileges (CVE-2006-3626, Important)

* a flaw in the SCTP implementation that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (panic) or to possibly gain root privileges (CVE-2006-3745, Important)

* a flaw in NFS exported ext2/ext3 partitions when handling invalid inodes that allowed a remote authenticated user to cause a denial of service (filesystem panic) (CVE-2006-3468, Important)

* a flaw in the restore_all code path of the 4/4GB split support of non-hugemem kernels that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (panic) (CVE-2006-2932, Important)

* a flaw in IPv4 netfilter handling for the unlikely use of SNMP NAT processing that allowed a remote user to cause a denial of service (crash) or potential memory corruption (CVE-2006-2444, Moderate)

* a flaw in the DVD handling of the CDROM driver that could be used together with a custom built USB device to gain root privileges (CVE-2006-2935, Moderate)

* a flaw in the handling of O_DIRECT writes that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) (CVE-2004-2660, Low)

* a flaw in the SCTP chunk length handling that allowed a remote user to cause a denial of service (crash) (CVE-2006-1858, Low)

* a flaw in the input handling of the ftdi_sio driver that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) (CVE-2006-2936, Low)

In addition a bugfix was added to enable a clean reboot for the IBM Pizzaro machines.

Red Hat would like to thank Wei Wang of McAfee Avert Labs and Kirill Korotaev for reporting issues fixed in this erratum.


From Red Hat Security Advisory ELSA-2006-0689 :

* a flaw in the SCTP support that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (crash) with a specific SO_LINGER value.
(CVE-2006-4535, Important)

* a flaw in the hugepage table support that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (crash). (CVE-2005-4811, Important)

* a flaw in the mprotect system call that allowed setting write permission for a read-only attachment of shared memory.
(CVE-2006-2071, Moderate)

* a flaw in HID0[31] (en_attn) register handling on PowerPC 970 systems that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service.
(crash) (CVE-2006-4093, Moderate)

* a flaw in the perfmon support of Itanium systems that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service by consuming all file descriptors. (CVE-2006-3741, Moderate)

* a flaw in the ATM subsystem. On systems with installed ATM hardware and configured ATM support, a remote user could cause a denial of service (panic) by accessing socket buffers memory after freeing them.
(CVE-2006-4997, Moderate)

* a flaw in the DVB subsystem. On systems with installed DVB hardware and configured DVB support, a remote user could cause a denial of service (panic) by sending a ULE SNDU packet with length of 0.
(CVE-2006-4623, Low)

* an information leak in the network subsystem that possibly allowed a local user to read sensitive data from kernel memory. (CVE-2006-0039, Low)

In addition, two bugfixes for the IPW-2200 wireless driver were included. The first one ensures that wireless management applications correctly identify IPW-2200 controlled devices, while the second fix ensures that DHCP requests using the IPW-2200 operate correctly.

Red Hat would like to thank Olof Johansson, Stephane Eranian and Solar Designer for reporting issues fixed in this erratum.

This kernel update fixes the following security problems :

  - A race condition allows local users to gain root     privileges by changing the file mode of /proc/self/     files in a way that causes those files (for instance     /proc/self/environ) to become setuid root. [#192688].
    (CVE-2006-3626)

  - A stack-based buffer overflow in CDROM / DVD handling     was fixed which could be used by a physical local     attacker to crash the kernel or execute code within     kernel context, depending on presence of automatic DVD     handling in the system. [#190396]. (CVE-2006-2935)

  - Due to an argument validation error in     prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE) a local attacker can easily gain     administrator (root) privileges. [#186980].
    (CVE-2006-2451)

and the following non security bugs :

  - Limit the maximum number of LUNs to 16384 [#185164]

  - LSI 1030/MPT Fusion driver hang during error recovery --     Optionally disable QAS [#180100]

  - advance buffer pointers in h_copy_rdma() to avoid data     corruption [#186444]

USN-319-1 fixed a Linux kernel vulnerability in Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. This followup advisory provides the corresponding updates for Ubuntu 5.04 and 5.10.

For reference, these are the details of the original USN :

A race condition has been discovered in the file permission handling of the /proc file system. A local attacker could exploit this to execute arbitrary code with full root privileges.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

A race condition has been discovered in the file permission handling of the /proc file system. A local attacker could exploit this to execute arbitrary code with full root privileges.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

A race condition in the Linux kernel 2.6.17.4 and earlier allows local users to obtain root privileges due to a race condition in the /proc filesystem.

The provided packages are patched to fix these vulnerabilities. All users are encouraged to upgrade to these updated kernels immediately and reboot to effect the fixes.

To update your kernel, please follow the directions located at :

http://www.mandriva.com/en/security/kernelupdate

It was discovered that a race condition in the process filesystem can lead to privilege escalation.

The following matrix explains which kernel version for which architecture fixes the problem mentioned above :

                            Debian 3.1 (sarge)          Source                    2.6.8-16sarge4              Alpha architecture        2.6.8-16sarge4              AMD64 architecture        2.6.8-16sarge4              Intel IA-32 architecture  2.6.8-16sarge4              Intel IA-64 architecture  2.6.8-14sarge4              PowerPC architecture      2.6.8-12sarge4              Sun Sparc architecture    2.6.8-15sarge4              IBM S/390                 2.6.8-5sarge4               Motorola 680x0            2.6.8-4sarge4               HP Precision              2.6.8-6sarge3               FAI                       1.9.1sarge3               The initial advisory lacked builds for the IBM S/390, Motorola 680x0 and HP Precision architectures, which are now provided. Also, the kernels for the FAI installer have been updated.

Updated kernel packages that fix several security issues in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 kernel are now available.

This security advisory has been rated as having important security impact by the Red Hat Security Response Team.

The Linux kernel handles the basic functions of the operating system.

These new kernel packages contain fixes for the security issues described below :

* a flaw in the proc file system that allowed a local user to use a suid-wrapper for scripts to gain root privileges (CVE-2006-3626, Important)

* a flaw in the SCTP implementation that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (panic) or to possibly gain root privileges (CVE-2006-3745, Important)

* a flaw in NFS exported ext2/ext3 partitions when handling invalid inodes that allowed a remote authenticated user to cause a denial of service (filesystem panic) (CVE-2006-3468, Important)

* a flaw in the restore_all code path of the 4/4GB split support of non-hugemem kernels that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (panic) (CVE-2006-2932, Important)

* a flaw in IPv4 netfilter handling for the unlikely use of SNMP NAT processing that allowed a remote user to cause a denial of service (crash) or potential memory corruption (CVE-2006-2444, Moderate)

* a flaw in the DVD handling of the CDROM driver that could be used together with a custom built USB device to gain root privileges (CVE-2006-2935, Moderate)

* a flaw in the handling of O_DIRECT writes that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) (CVE-2004-2660, Low)

* a flaw in the SCTP chunk length handling that allowed a remote user to cause a denial of service (crash) (CVE-2006-1858, Low)

* a flaw in the input handling of the ftdi_sio driver that allowed a local user to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) (CVE-2006-2936, Low)

In addition a bugfix was added to enable a clean reboot for the IBM Pizzaro machines.

Red Hat would like to thank Wei Wang of McAfee Avert Labs and Kirill Korotaev for reporting issues fixed in this erratum.

All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 users are advised to upgrade their kernels to the packages associated with their machine architectures and configurations as listed in this erratum.

The remote CentOS system is missing a security update which has been documented in Red Hat advisory RHSA-2006-0617.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
67401	Oracle Linux 4 : kernel (ELSA-2006-0617 / ELSA-2006-0689)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	high
59120	SuSE 10 Security Update : Linux kernel (ZYPP Patch Number 1900)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
29484	SuSE 10 Security Update : Linux kernel (ZYPP Patch Number 1896)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	medium
27896	Ubuntu 5.04 / 5.10 : linux-source-2.6.10, linux-source-2.6.12 vulnerability (USN-319-2)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	medium
27895	Ubuntu 6.06 LTS : linux-source-2.6.15 vulnerability (USN-319-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	medium
23875	Mandrake Linux Security Advisory : kernel (MDKSA-2006:124)	Nessus	Mandriva Local Security Checks	medium
22653	Debian DSA-1111-2 : kernel-source-2.6.8 - race condition	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	medium
22279	CentOS 4 : kernel (CESA-2006:0617)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	high
22264	RHEL 4 : kernel (RHSA-2006:0617)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	high
801421	CentOS RHSA-2006-0617 Security Check	Log Correlation Engine	Generic	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2006-3626

high

Tenable Plugins

high

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

medium

high

high

high