Vulnerabilities > CVE-2009-4004 - Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer vulnerability in Linux Kernel

047910
CVSS 7.8 - HIGH
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
LOW
Confidentiality impact
HIGH
Integrity impact
HIGH
Availability impact
HIGH
local
low complexity
linux
CWE-119
NVD
Published: 2009-11-20
Updated: 2023-11-07

Summary

Buffer overflow in the kvm_vcpu_ioctl_x86_setup_mce function in arch/x86/kvm/x86.c in the KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.32-rc7 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or possibly gain privileges via a KVM_X86_SETUP_MCE IOCTL request that specifies a large number of Machine Check Exception (MCE) banks.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Linux
1106

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables
    This attack pattern involves causing a buffer overflow through manipulation of environment variables. Once the attacker finds that they can modify an environment variable, they may try to overflow associated buffers. This attack leverages implicit trust often placed in environment variables.
  • Overflow Buffers
    Buffer Overflow attacks target improper or missing bounds checking on buffer operations, typically triggered by input injected by an attacker. As a consequence, an attacker is able to write past the boundaries of allocated buffer regions in memory, causing a program crash or potentially redirection of execution as per the attackers' choice.
  • Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow
    This type of attack exploits a buffer overflow vulnerability in targeted client software through injection of malicious content from a custom-built hostile service.
  • Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow
    In this attack, the idea is to cause an active filter to fail by causing an oversized transaction. An attacker may try to feed overly long input strings to the program in an attempt to overwhelm the filter (by causing a buffer overflow) and hoping that the filter does not fail securely (i.e. the user input is let into the system unfiltered).
  • MIME Conversion
    An attacker exploits a weakness in the MIME conversion routine to cause a buffer overflow and gain control over the mail server machine. The MIME system is designed to allow various different information formats to be interpreted and sent via e-mail. Attack points exist when data are converted to MIME compatible format and back.

Statements

contributorTomas Hoger
lastmodified2009-11-20
organizationRed Hat
statementNot vulnerable. This issue did not affect the versions of Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4, and Red Hat Enterprise MRG as KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is only supported in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is not vulnerable to this issue because it does not include the change that introduced this buffer overflow vulnerability.

References