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Ubuntu 20.04 LTS : Linux kernel vulnerabilities (USN-4751-1)

high Nessus Plugin ID 147978

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Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 20.04 LTS / 20.10 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-4751-1 advisory.

 - A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A use-after-free was found in the way the console subsystem was using ioctls KDGKBSENT and KDSKBSENT. A local user could use this flaw to get read memory access out of bounds. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality. (CVE-2020-25656)

 - A flaw memory leak in the Linux kernel performance monitoring subsystem was found in the way if using PERF_EVENT_IOC_SET_FILTER. A local user could use this flaw to starve the resources causing denial of service. (CVE-2020-25704)

 - An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 5.9.1, as used with Xen through 4.14.x. Guest OS users can cause a denial of service (host OS hang) via a high rate of events to dom0, aka CID-e99502f76271.
 (CVE-2020-27673)

 - An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 5.9.1, as used with Xen through 4.14.x.
 drivers/xen/events/events_base.c allows event-channel removal during the event-handling loop (a race condition). This can cause a use-after-free or NULL pointer dereference, as demonstrated by a dom0 crash via events for an in-reconfiguration paravirtualized device, aka CID-073d0552ead5. (CVE-2020-27675)

 - A flaw was found in the way RTAS handled memory accesses in userspace to kernel communication. On a locked down (usually due to Secure Boot) guest system running on top of PowerVM or KVM hypervisors (pseries platform) a root like local user could use this flaw to further increase their privileges to that of a running kernel. (CVE-2020-27777)

 - A use after free in the Linux kernel infiniband hfi1 driver in versions prior to 5.10-rc6 was found in the way user calls Ioctl after open dev file and fork. A local user could use this flaw to crash the system.
 (CVE-2020-27835)

 - An issue was discovered in drivers/accessibility/speakup/spk_ttyio.c in the Linux kernel through 5.9.9.
 Local attackers on systems with the speakup driver could cause a local denial of service attack, aka CID-d41227544427. This occurs because of an invalid free when the line discipline is used more than once.
 (CVE-2020-28941)

 - A slab-out-of-bounds read in fbcon in the Linux kernel before 5.9.7 could be used by local attackers to read privileged information or potentially crash the kernel, aka CID-3c4e0dff2095. This occurs because KD_FONT_OP_COPY in drivers/tty/vt/vt.c can be used for manipulations such as font height. (CVE-2020-28974)

 - An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Some OSes (such as Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD) are processing watch events using a single thread. If the events are received faster than the thread is able to handle, they will get queued. As the queue is unbounded, a guest may be able to trigger an OOM in the backend. All systems with a FreeBSD, Linux, or NetBSD (any version) dom0 are vulnerable. (CVE-2020-29568)

 - An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 5.10.1, as used with Xen through 4.14.x. The Linux kernel PV block backend expects the kernel thread handler to reset ring->xenblkd to NULL when stopped.
 However, the handler may not have time to run if the frontend quickly toggles between the states connect and disconnect. As a consequence, the block backend may re-use a pointer after it was freed. A misbehaving guest can trigger a dom0 crash by continuously connecting / disconnecting a block frontend. Privilege escalation and information leaks cannot be ruled out. This only affects systems with a Linux blkback.
 (CVE-2020-29569)

 - A locking inconsistency issue was discovered in the tty subsystem of the Linux kernel through 5.9.13.
 drivers/tty/tty_io.c and drivers/tty/tty_jobctrl.c may allow a read-after-free attack against TIOCGSID, aka CID-c8bcd9c5be24. (CVE-2020-29660)

 - A locking issue was discovered in the tty subsystem of the Linux kernel through 5.9.13.
 drivers/tty/tty_jobctrl.c allows a use-after-free attack against TIOCSPGRP, aka CID-54ffccbf053b.
 (CVE-2020-29661)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected kernel package.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-4751-1

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 147978

File Name: ubuntu_USN-4751-1.nasl

Version: 1.7

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 3/23/2021

Updated: 10/20/2023

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.3

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 5.6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2020-29661

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.8

Temporal Score: 7.9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2020-29569

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-5.8.0-44-generic, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-5.8.0-44-generic-lpae, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:linux-image-5.8.0-44-lowlatency

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Debian/dpkg-l, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 2/25/2021

Vulnerability Publication Date: 10/22/2020

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2020-25656, CVE-2020-25668, CVE-2020-25669, CVE-2020-25704, CVE-2020-27673, CVE-2020-27675, CVE-2020-27777, CVE-2020-27815, CVE-2020-27830, CVE-2020-27835, CVE-2020-28588, CVE-2020-28941, CVE-2020-28974, CVE-2020-29568, CVE-2020-29569, CVE-2020-29660, CVE-2020-29661, CVE-2020-35508

USN: 4751-1