Security News > 2021 > March > Privilege Escalation Bugs Patched in Linux Kernel
A total of five vulnerabilities that could lead to local privilege escalation were recently identified and fixed in the Linux kernel.
Identified by Positive Technologies security researcher Alexander Popov, the high severity bugs resided in the virtual socket implementation of the Linux kernel.
Tracked as CVE-2021-26708 and featuring a CVSS score of 7.0, the security holes were introduced in Linux kernel version 5.5 in November 2019.
The vulnerabilities are the result of race conditions that were added with virtual socket multi-transport support, with all major GNU/Linux distributions impacted, as the vulnerable kernel drivers are shipped to all of them, as kernel modules.
"I successfully developed a prototype exploit for local privilege escalation on Fedora 33 Server, bypassing x86 64 platform protections such as SMEP and SMAP. This research will lead to new ideas on how to improve Linux kernel security," Popov commented.
In addition to identifying the vulnerabilities, the security researcher prepared a patch and sent it to the Linux kernel security team.
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Related Vulnerability
| DATE | CVE | VULNERABILITY TITLE | RISK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-02-05 | CVE-2021-26708 | Improper Locking vulnerability in multiple products A local privilege escalation was discovered in the Linux kernel before 5.10.13. | 7.0 |