The do_block_io_op function in (1) drivers/xen/blkback/blkback.c and (2) drivers/xen/blktap/blktap.c in Xen before 3.4.0 for the Linux kernel 2.6.18, and possibly other versions, allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and CPU consumption) via a large production request index to the blkback or blktap back-end drivers. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.

The remote VMware ESX / ESXi host is missing a security-related patch.
It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities in several third-party components and libraries :

  - Kernel
  - krb5
  - glibc
  - mtp2sas
  - mptsas
  - mptspi

From Red Hat Security Advisory 2011:0004 :

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues, several bugs, and add an enhancement are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues :

* A flaw was found in sctp_packet_config() in the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation. A remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service.
(CVE-2010-3432, Important)

* A missing integer overflow check was found in snd_ctl_new() in the Linux kernel's sound subsystem. A local, unprivileged user on a 32-bit system could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3442, Important)

* A heap overflow flaw in the Linux kernel's Transparent Inter-Process Communication protocol (TIPC) implementation could allow a local, unprivileged user to escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3859, Important)

* An integer overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol implementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3865, Important)

* A flaw was found in the Xenbus code for the unified block-device I/O interface back end. A privileged guest user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service on the host system running the Xen hypervisor. (CVE-2010-3699, Moderate)

* Missing sanity checks were found in setup_arg_pages() in the Linux kernel. When making the size of the argument and environment area on the stack very large, it could trigger a BUG_ON(), resulting in a local denial of service. (CVE-2010-3858, Moderate)

* A flaw was found in inet_csk_diag_dump() in the Linux kernel's module for monitoring the sockets of INET transport protocols. By sending a netlink message with certain bytecode, a local, unprivileged user could cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-3880, Moderate)

* Missing sanity checks were found in gdth_ioctl_alloc() in the gdth driver in the Linux kernel. A local user with access to '/dev/gdth' on a 64-bit system could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-4157, Moderate)

* The fix for Red Hat Bugzilla bug 484590 as provided in RHSA-2009:1243 introduced a regression. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4161, Moderate)

* A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Bluetooth HCI UART driver in the Linux kernel. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4242, Moderate)

* It was found that a malicious guest running on the Xen hypervisor could place invalid data in the memory that the guest shared with the blkback and blktap back-end drivers, resulting in a denial of service on the host system. (CVE-2010-4247, Moderate)

* A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's CPU time clocks implementation for the POSIX clock interface. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4248, Moderate)

* Missing initialization flaws in the Linux kernel could lead to information leaks. (CVE-2010-3876, CVE-2010-4083, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Dan Rosenberg for reporting CVE-2010-3442, CVE-2010-4161, and CVE-2010-4083; Thomas Pollet for reporting CVE-2010-3865; Brad Spengler for reporting CVE-2010-3858; Nelson Elhage for reporting CVE-2010-3880; Alan Cox for reporting CVE-2010-4242; and Vasiliy Kulikov for reporting CVE-2010-3876.

This update also fixes several bugs and adds an enhancement.
Documentation for the bug fixes and the enhancement will be available shortly from the Technical Notes document, linked to in the References section.

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues, and fix the bugs and add the enhancement noted in the Technical Notes. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

This update fixes the following security issues :

  - A flaw was found in sctp_packet_config() in the Linux     kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP)     implementation. A remote attacker could use this flaw to     cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-3432, Important)

  - A missing integer overflow check was found in     snd_ctl_new() in the Linux kernel's sound subsystem. A     local, unprivileged user on a 32-bit system could use     this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their     privileges. (CVE-2010-3442, Important)

  - A heap overflow flaw in the Linux kernel's Transparent     Inter-Process Communication protocol (TIPC)     implementation could allow a local, unprivileged user to     escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3859, Important)

  - An integer overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's     Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol implementation.
    A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause     a denial of service or escalate their privileges.
    (CVE-2010-3865, Important)

  - A flaw was found in the Xenbus code for the unified     block-device I/O interface back end. A privileged guest     user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service on     the host system running the Xen hypervisor.
    (CVE-2010-3699, Moderate)

  - Missing sanity checks were found in setup_arg_pages() in     the Linux kernel. When making the size of the argument     and environment area on the stack very large, it could     trigger a BUG_ON(), resulting in a local denial of     service. (CVE-2010-3858, Moderate)

  - A flaw was found in inet_csk_diag_dump() in the Linux     kernel's module for monitoring the sockets of INET     transport protocols. By sending a netlink message with     certain bytecode, a local, unprivileged user could cause     a denial of service. (CVE-2010-3880, Moderate)

  - Missing sanity checks were found in gdth_ioctl_alloc()     in the gdth driver in the Linux kernel. A local user     with access to '/dev/gdth' on a 64-bit system could use     this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their     privileges. (CVE-2010-4157, Moderate)

  - The fix put into kernel-2.6.18-164.el5 introduced a     regression. A local, unprivileged user could use this     flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4161,     Moderate)

  - A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the     Bluetooth HCI UART driver in the Linux kernel. A local,     unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial     of service. (CVE-2010-4242, Moderate)

  - It was found that a malicious guest running on the Xen     hypervisor could place invalid data in the memory that     the guest shared with the blkback and blktap back-end     drivers, resulting in a denial of service on the host     system. (CVE-2010-4247, Moderate)

  - A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's CPU time clocks     implementation for the POSIX clock interface. A local,     unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial     of service. (CVE-2010-4248, Moderate)

  - Missing initialization flaws in the Linux kernel could     lead to information leaks. (CVE-2010-3876,     CVE-2010-4083, Low)

This update also fixes several bugs and adds an enhancement.

The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

a. ESX third-party update for Service Console kernel

   This update takes the console OS kernel package to    kernel-2.6.18-238.9.1 which resolves multiple security issues.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has    assigned the names CVE-2010-1083, CVE-2010-2492, CVE-2010-2798,    CVE-2010-2938, CVE-2010-2942, CVE-2010-2943, CVE-2010-3015,    CVE-2010-3066, CVE-2010-3067, CVE-2010-3078, CVE-2010-3086,    CVE-2010-3296, CVE-2010-3432, CVE-2010-3442, CVE-2010-3477,    CVE-2010-3699, CVE-2010-3858, CVE-2010-3859, CVE-2010-3865,    CVE-2010-3876, CVE-2010-3877, CVE-2010-3880, CVE-2010-3904,    CVE-2010-4072, CVE-2010-4073, CVE-2010-4075, CVE-2010-4080,    CVE-2010-4081, CVE-2010-4083, CVE-2010-4157, CVE-2010-4158,    CVE-2010-4161, CVE-2010-4238, CVE-2010-4242, CVE-2010-4243,    CVE-2010-4247, CVE-2010-4248, CVE-2010-4249, CVE-2010-4251,    CVE-2010-4255, CVE-2010-4263, CVE-2010-4343, CVE-2010-4346,    CVE-2010-4526, CVE-2010-4655, CVE-2011-0521, CVE-2011-0710,    CVE-2011-1010, CVE-2011-1090 and CVE-2011-1478 to these issues.

b. ESX third-party update for Service Console krb5 RPMs

   This patch updates the krb5-libs and krb5-workstation RPMs of the    console OS to version 1.6.1-55.el5_6.1, which resolves multiple    security issues.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has    assigned the names CVE-2010-1323, CVE-2011-0281, and CVE-2011-0282    to these issues.

c. ESXi and ESX update to third-party component glibc

   The glibc third-party library is updated to resolve multiple    security issues.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has    assigned the names CVE-2010-0296, CVE-2011-0536, CVE-2011-1071,    CVE-2011-1095, CVE-2011-1658, and CVE-2011-1659 to these issues.

d. ESX update to third-party drivers mptsas, mpt2sas, and mptspi

   The mptsas, mpt2sas, and mptspi drivers are updated which addresses    multiple security issues in the mpt2sas driver.

   The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has    assigned the names CVE-2011-1494 and CVE-2011-1495 to these issues.

Dan Rosenberg discovered that multiple terminal ioctls did not correctly initialize structure memory. A local attacker could exploit this to read portions of kernel stack memory, leading to a loss of privacy. (CVE-2010-4076, CVE-2010-4077)

It was discovered that Xen did not correctly handle certain block requests. A local attacker in a Xen guest could cause the Xen host to use all available CPU resources, leading to a denial of service.
(CVE-2010-4247)

It was discovered that the ICMP stack did not correctly handle certain unreachable messages. If a remote attacker were able to acquire a socket lock, they could send specially crafted traffic that would crash the system, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4526)

Kees Cook reported that /proc/pid/stat did not correctly filter certain memory locations. A local attacker could determine the memory layout of processes in an attempt to increase the chances of a successful memory corruption exploit. (CVE-2011-0726)

Timo Warns discovered that OSF partition parsing routines did not correctly clear memory. A local attacker with physical access could plug in a specially crafted block device to read kernel memory, leading to a loss of privacy. (CVE-2011-1163)

Timo Warns discovered that the GUID partition parsing routines did not correctly validate certain structures. A local attacker with physical access could plug in a specially crafted block device to crash the system, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2011-1577)

Vasiliy Kulikov discovered that the AGP driver did not check certain ioctl values. A local attacker with access to the video subsystem could exploit this to crash the system, leading to a denial of service, or possibly gain root privileges. (CVE-2011-1745, CVE-2011-2022)

Vasiliy Kulikov discovered that the AGP driver did not check the size of certain memory allocations. A local attacker with access to the video subsystem could exploit this to run the system out of memory, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2011-1746).

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.

Updated kernel packages that fix multiple security issues, several bugs, and add an enhancement are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section.

The kernel packages contain the Linux kernel, the core of any Linux operating system.

This update fixes the following security issues :

* A flaw was found in sctp_packet_config() in the Linux kernel's Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) implementation. A remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service.
(CVE-2010-3432, Important)

* A missing integer overflow check was found in snd_ctl_new() in the Linux kernel's sound subsystem. A local, unprivileged user on a 32-bit system could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3442, Important)

* A heap overflow flaw in the Linux kernel's Transparent Inter-Process Communication protocol (TIPC) implementation could allow a local, unprivileged user to escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3859, Important)

* An integer overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol implementation. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-3865, Important)

* A flaw was found in the Xenbus code for the unified block-device I/O interface back end. A privileged guest user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service on the host system running the Xen hypervisor. (CVE-2010-3699, Moderate)

* Missing sanity checks were found in setup_arg_pages() in the Linux kernel. When making the size of the argument and environment area on the stack very large, it could trigger a BUG_ON(), resulting in a local denial of service. (CVE-2010-3858, Moderate)

* A flaw was found in inet_csk_diag_dump() in the Linux kernel's module for monitoring the sockets of INET transport protocols. By sending a netlink message with certain bytecode, a local, unprivileged user could cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-3880, Moderate)

* Missing sanity checks were found in gdth_ioctl_alloc() in the gdth driver in the Linux kernel. A local user with access to '/dev/gdth' on a 64-bit system could use this flaw to cause a denial of service or escalate their privileges. (CVE-2010-4157, Moderate)

* The fix for Red Hat Bugzilla bug 484590 as provided in RHSA-2009:1243 introduced a regression. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4161, Moderate)

* A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Bluetooth HCI UART driver in the Linux kernel. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4242, Moderate)

* It was found that a malicious guest running on the Xen hypervisor could place invalid data in the memory that the guest shared with the blkback and blktap back-end drivers, resulting in a denial of service on the host system. (CVE-2010-4247, Moderate)

* A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's CPU time clocks implementation for the POSIX clock interface. A local, unprivileged user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2010-4248, Moderate)

* Missing initialization flaws in the Linux kernel could lead to information leaks. (CVE-2010-3876, CVE-2010-4083, Low)

Red Hat would like to thank Dan Rosenberg for reporting CVE-2010-3442, CVE-2010-4161, and CVE-2010-4083; Thomas Pollet for reporting CVE-2010-3865; Brad Spengler for reporting CVE-2010-3858; Nelson Elhage for reporting CVE-2010-3880; Alan Cox for reporting CVE-2010-4242; and Vasiliy Kulikov for reporting CVE-2010-3876.

This update also fixes several bugs and adds an enhancement.
Documentation for the bug fixes and the enhancement will be available shortly from the Technical Notes document, linked to in the References section.

Users should upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues, and fix the bugs and add the enhancement noted in the Technical Notes. The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

The remote CentOS system is missing a security update which has been documented in Red Hat advisory RHSA-2011-0004.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
89680	VMware ESX / ESXi Third-Party Libraries Multiple Vulnerabilities (VMSA-2011-0012) (remote check)	Nessus	Misc.	high
68176	Oracle Linux 5 : kernel (ELSA-2011-0004)	Nessus	Oracle Linux Local Security Checks	high
60929	Scientific Linux Security Update : kernel on SL5.x i386/x86_64	Nessus	Scientific Linux Local Security Checks	high
56508	VMSA-2011-0012 : VMware ESXi and ESX updates to third-party libraries and ESX Service Console	Nessus	VMware ESX Local Security Checks	high
55607	Ubuntu 8.04 LTS : linux vulnerabilities (USN-1170-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	high
51426	CentOS 5 : kernel (CESA-2011:0004)	Nessus	CentOS Local Security Checks	high
51417	RHEL 5 : kernel (RHSA-2011:0004)	Nessus	Red Hat Local Security Checks	high
801502	CentOS RHSA-2011-0004 Security Check	Log Correlation Engine	Generic	high

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2010-4247

medium

Tenable Plugins

high

high

high

high

high

high

high

high