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Debian DSA-514-1 : kernel-image-sparc-2.2 - failing function and TLB flush

high Nessus Plugin ID 15351

Synopsis

The remote Debian host is missing a security-related update.

Description

Paul Starzetz and Wojciech Purczynski of isec.pl discovered a critical security vulnerability in the memory management code of Linux inside the mremap(2) system call. Due to flushing the TLB (Translation Lookaside Buffer, an address cache) too early it is possible for an attacker to trigger a local root exploit.

The attack vectors for 2.4.x and 2.2.x kernels are exclusive for the respective kernel series, though. We formerly believed that the exploitable vulnerability in 2.4.x does not exist in 2.2.x which is still true. However, it turned out that a second (sort of) vulnerability is indeed exploitable in 2.2.x, but not in 2.4.x, with a different exploit, of course.

Solution

Upgrade the Linux kernel package.

For the stable distribution (woody) these problems have been fixed in version 9woody1 of Linux 2.2 kernel images for the sparc architecture and in version 2.2.20-5woody3 of Linux 2.2.20 source.

This problem has been fixed for other architectures already.

See Also

http://www.debian.org/security/2004/dsa-514

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 15351

File Name: debian_DSA-514.nasl

Version: 1.25

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 9/29/2004

Updated: 1/4/2021

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 8.9

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.2

Temporal Score: 6

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:3.0, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:kernel-image-sparc-2.2, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:kernel-source-2.2.20

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

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 6/4/2004

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2004-0077

BID: 9686

CERT: 981222

DSA: 514