Amazon Linux 2 : kernel (ALASKERNEL-5.4-2023-043)

high Nessus Plugin ID 173230

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Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2 host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of kernel installed on the remote host is prior to 5.4.235-144.344. It is, therefore, affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the ALAS2KERNEL-5.4-2023-043 advisory.

A regression exists in the Linux Kernel within KVM: nVMX that allowed for speculative execution attacks.
L2 can carry out Spectre v2 attacks on L1 due to L1 thinking it doesn't need retpolines or IBPB after running L2 due to KVM (L0) advertising eIBRS support to L1. An attacker at L2 with code execution can execute code on an indirect branch on the host machine. We recommend upgrading to Kernel 6.2 or past commit 2e7eab81425a (CVE-2022-2196)

It has been discovered that on some AMD CPUs, the RAS (Return Address Stack, also called RAP - Return Address Predictor - in some AMD documentation, and RSB - Return Stack Buffer - in Intel terminology) is dynamically partitioned between non-idle threads. This allows an attacker to control speculative execution on the adjacent thread. (CVE-2022-27672)

Detected a few exploitable gadgets that could leak secret memory through a side-channel such as MDS as well as insufficient hardening of the usercopy functions against spectre-v1. (CVE-2023-0458)

Due to a type confusion during initializations, the tun and tap sockets in the Linux Kernel have their socket UID hardcoded to 0, i.e. root. While it will be often correct, as TUN/TAP devices require CAP_NET_ADMIN, it may not always be the case. The socket UID may be used for network filtering and routing, thus TUN/TAP sockets may be incorrectly managed, potentially bypassing network filters based on UID. (CVE-2023-1076)

kernel: Type confusion in pick_next_rt_entity(), which can result in memory corruption. (CVE-2023-1077)

The upstream bug report describes this issue as follows:

A flaw found in the Linux Kernel in RDS (Reliable Datagram Sockets) protocol. The rds_rm_zerocopy_callback() uses list_entry() on the head of a list causing a type confusion. Local user can trigger this with rds_message_put(). Type confusion leads to `struct rds_msg_zcopy_info *info` actually points to something else that is potentially controlled by local user. It is known how to trigger this, which causes an OOB access, and a lock corruption. (CVE-2023-1078)

Use After Free vulnerability in Linux kernel traffic control index filter (tcindex) allows Privilege Escalation. The imperfect hash area can be updated while packets are traversing, which will cause a use- after-free when 'tcf_exts_exec()' is called with the destroyed tcf_ext. A local attacker user can use this vulnerability to elevate its privileges to root.This issue affects Linux Kernel: from 4.14 before git commit ee059170b1f7e94e55fa6cadee544e176a6e59c2. (CVE-2023-1281)

A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux Kernel traffic control index filter (tcindex) can be exploited to achieve local privilege escalation. The tcindex_delete function which does not properly deactivate filters in case of a perfect hashes while deleting the underlying structure which can later lead to double freeing the structure. A local attacker user can use this vulnerability to elevate its privileges to root.We recommend upgrading past commit 8c710f75256bb3cf05ac7b1672c82b92c43f3d28. (CVE-2023-1829)

When plain IBRS is enabled (not enhanced IBRS), the logic in spectre_v2_user_select_mitigation() determines that STIBP is not needed. The IBRS bit implicitly protects against cross-thread branch targetinjection. However, with legacy IBRS, the IBRS bit is cleared on returning to userspace for performance reasons which leaves userspace threads vulnerable to cross-thread branch target injection against which STIBP protects. (CVE-2023-1998)

A use-after-free flaw was found in iscsi_sw_tcp_session_create in drivers/scsi/iscsi_tcp.c in the SCSI sub-component in the Linux Kernel. This issue could allow an attacker to leak kernel internal information.
(CVE-2023-2162)

In the Linux kernel before 6.1.13, there is a double free in net/mpls/af_mpls.c upon an allocation failure (for registering the sysctl table under a new location) during the renaming of a device. (CVE-2023-26545)

A use-after-free flaw was found in hfsplus_put_super in fs/hfsplus/super.c in the Linux Kernel. This flaw could allow a local user to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2023-2985)

A flaw was found in the Framebuffer Console (fbcon) in the Linux Kernel. When providing a font->width and font->height greater than 32 to the fbcon_set_font, since there are no checks in place, a shift-out-of- bounds occurs, leading to undefined behavior and possible denial of service. (CVE-2023-3161)

A use-after-free flaw was found in vcs_read in drivers/tty/vt/vc_screen.c in vc_screen in the Linux Kernel. In this flaw an attacker with local user access may lead to a system crash or a leak of internal kernel information. (CVE-2023-3567)

An issue was discovered in drivers/usb/storage/ene_ub6250.c for the ENE UB6250 reader driver in the Linux kernel before 6.2.5. An object could potentially extend beyond the end of an allocation. (CVE-2023-45862)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

aio: fix mremap after fork null-deref (CVE-2023-52646)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/usb: kalmia: Don't pass act_len in usb_bulk_msg error path (CVE-2023-52703)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nilfs2: fix underflow in second superblock position calculations (CVE-2023-52705)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/psi: Fix use-after-free in ep_remove_wait_queue() (CVE-2023-52707)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

IB/IPoIB: Fix legacy IPoIB due to wrong number of queues (CVE-2023-52745)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

vc_screen: move load of struct vc_data pointer in vcs_read() to avoid UAF (CVE-2023-52973)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

scsi: iscsi_tcp: Fix UAF during login when accessing the shost ipaddress (CVE-2023-52974)

kernel: refcount leak in ctnetlink_create_conntrack() (CVE-2023-7192)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the tested product security advisory.

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

Solution

Run 'yum update kernel' to update your system.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 173230

File Name: al2_ALASKERNEL-5_4-2023-043.nasl

Version: 1.17

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Amazon Linux Local Security Checks

Published: 3/22/2023

Updated: 4/30/2025

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.3

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5.3

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2023-52707

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-2022-2196

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:perf-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:python-perf-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-headers, cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:bpftool-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:python-perf

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 3/17/2023

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/9/2023

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2022-2196, CVE-2022-27672, CVE-2023-0458, CVE-2023-1076, CVE-2023-1077, CVE-2023-1078, CVE-2023-1281, CVE-2023-1829, CVE-2023-1998, CVE-2023-2162, CVE-2023-26545, CVE-2023-2985, CVE-2023-3161, CVE-2023-3567, CVE-2023-45862, CVE-2023-52646, CVE-2023-52703, CVE-2023-52705, CVE-2023-52707, CVE-2023-52745, CVE-2023-52973, CVE-2023-52974, CVE-2023-7192

Detections

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