Vulnerabilities > CVE-2023-33951 - Improper Locking vulnerability in multiple products

047910
CVSS 5.3 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
HIGH
Privileges required
HIGH
Confidentiality impact
HIGH
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
NONE
local
high complexity
linux
redhat
CWE-667
NVD
Published: 2023-07-24
Updated: 2024-11-21

Summary

A race condition vulnerability was found in the vmwgfx driver in the Linux kernel. The flaw exists within the handling of GEM objects. The issue results from improper locking when performing operations on an object. This flaw allows a local privileged user to disclose information in the context of the kernel.

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Linux
5459
OS
Redhat
4

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Leveraging Race Conditions
    This attack targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The attacker can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance a race condition can occur while accessing a file, the attacker can trick the system by replacing the original file with his version and cause the system to read the malicious file.
  • Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links
    This attack leverages the use of symbolic links (Symlinks) in order to write to sensitive files. An attacker can create a Symlink link to a target file not otherwise accessible to her. When the privileged program tries to create a temporary file with the same name as the Symlink link, it will actually write to the target file pointed to by the attackers' Symlink link. If the attacker can insert malicious content in the temporary file she will be writing to the sensitive file by using the Symlink. The race occurs because the system checks if the temporary file exists, then creates the file. The attacker would typically create the Symlink during the interval between the check and the creation of the temporary file.

References