CVE-2018-14634

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Last Modified: UTC

Description

An integer overflow flaw was found in the Linux kernel's create_elf_tables() function. An unprivileged local user with access to SUID (or otherwise privileged) binary could use this flaw to escalate their privileges on the system.

Statement

This issue does not affect 32-bit systems as they do not have a large enough address space to exploit this flaw.

Systems with less than 32GB of memory are very unlikely to be affected by this issue due to memory demands during exploitation.

This issue does not affect the versions of Linux kernel as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

This issue affects the version of the kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2. Future kernel updates for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 will address this issue.

Mitigation

To mitigate the issue:

Enable and install kernel-debuginfo packages as per https://access.redhat.com/solutions/666123

1) On the host, save the following in a file with the ".stp" extension:

// CVE-2018-14634
//
// Theory of operations: adjust the thread's # rlimit-in-effect around
// calls to the vulnerable get_arg_page() function so as to encompass
// the newly required _STK_LIM / 4 * 3 maximum.

// Complication: the rlimit is stored in a current-> structure that
// is shared across the threads of the process. They may concurrently
// invoke this operation.

function clamp_stack_rlim_cur:long ()
%{
  struct rlimit *rlim = current->signal->rlim;
  unsigned long rlim_cur = READ_ONCE(rlim[RLIMIT_STACK].rlim_cur);

  unsigned long limit = _STK_LIM / 4 * 3;
  limit *= 4; // multiply it back up, to the scale used by rlim_cur

  if (rlim_cur > limit) {
    WRITE_ONCE(rlim[RLIMIT_STACK].rlim_cur, limit);
    STAP_RETURN(limit);
  } else
    STAP_RETURN(0);
%}

probe kernel.function("copy_strings").call
{
  l = clamp_stack_rlim_cur()
   if (l)
     printf("lowered process %s(%d) STACK rlim_cur to %p\n",
            execname(), pid(), l)
}

probe begin {
printf("CVE-2018-14634 mitigation loaded\n")

}

probe end {
printf("CVE-2018-14634 mitigation unloaded\n")
}

2) Install the "systemtap" package and any required dependencies. Refer
to the "2. Using SystemTap" chapter in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux
"SystemTap Beginners Guide" document, available from docs.redhat.com,
for information on installing the required -debuginfo and matching kernel-devel packages

3) Run the "stap -g [filename-from-step-1].stp" command as root.

If the host is rebooted, the changes will be lost and the script must be
run again.

Alternatively, build the systemtap script on a development system with
"stap -g -p 4 [filename-from-step-1].stp", distribute the resulting
kernel module to all affected systems, and run "staprun -L <module>" on those.
When using this approach only systemtap-runtime package is required on
the affected systems. Please notice that the kernel version must be the same
across all systems.

This may not be a suitable workaround if your application uses massive amounts of stack space. Please consider this if there are any adverse affects when running this mitigation.

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:2846
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 Advanced Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:3643
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 Advanced Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:2933
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 Advanced Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:2924
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 Telco Extended Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:2924
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.7 Extended Update Support kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:2925
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel Fixed RHSA-2018:2748
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-rt Fixed RHSA-2018:2763
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-alt Not affected
Unless explicitly stated as not affected, all previous versions of packages in any minor update stream of a product listed here should be assumed vulnerable, although may not have been subject to full analysis.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authorities (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications ).

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown Red Hat NVD
CVSS v3 Base Score 7.8 7.8
Attack Vector Local Local
Attack Complexity Low Low
Privileges Required Low Low
User Interaction None None
Scope Unchanged Unchanged
Confidentiality Impact High High
Integrity Impact High High
Availability Impact High High

CVSS v3 Vector

Red Hat CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Acknowledgements

Red Hat would like to thank Qualys Research Labs for reporting this issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Red Hat's CVSS v3 score or Impact different from other vendors?

For open source software shipped by multiple vendors, the CVSS base scores may vary for each vendor's version depending on the version they ship, how they ship it, the platform, and even how the software is compiled. This makes scoring of vulnerabilities difficult for third-party vulnerability databases such as NVD that only provide a single CVSS base score for each vulnerability. Red Hat scores reflect how a vulnerability affects our products specifically.

For more information, see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/762393.

My product is listed as "Under investigation" or "Affected", when will Red Hat release a fix for this vulnerability?

  • "Under investigation" doesn't necessarily mean that the product is affected by this vulnerability. It only means that our Analysis Team is still working on determining whether the product is affected and how it is affected.
  • "Affected" means that our Analysis Team has determined that this product is affected by this vulnerability and might release a fix to address this in the near future.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Will not fix"?

A "will not fix" status means that a fix for an affected product version is not planned or not possible due to complexity, which may create additional risk.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Upgrade to a supported product version that includes a fix for this vulnerability (recommended).
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.

What can I do if my product is listed as "Fix deferred"?

A deferred status means that a fix for an affected product version is not guaranteed due to higher-priority development work.

Available options depend mostly on the Impact of the vulnerability and the current Life Cycle phase of your product. Overall, you have the following options:
  • Apply a mitigation (if one exists).
  • Open a This content is not included.support case to request a prioritization of releasing a fix for this vulnerability.
  • Red Hat Engineering focuses on addressing high-priority issues based on their complexity or limited lifecycle support. Therefore, lower-priority issues will not receive immediate fixes.

What is a mitigation?

A mitigation is an action that can be taken to reduce the impact of a security vulnerability, without deploying any fixes.

I have a Red Hat product but it is not in the above list, is it affected?

The listed products were found to include one or more of the components that this vulnerability affects. These products underwent a thorough evaluation to determine their affectedness by this vulnerability. Note that layered products (such as container-based offerings) that consume affected components from any of the products listed in this table may be affected and are not represented.

Why is my security scanner reporting my product as vulnerable to this vulnerability even though my product version is fixed or not affected?

In order to maintain code stability and compatibility, Red Hat usually does not rebase packages to entirely new versions. Instead, we backport fixes and new features to an older version of the package we distribute. This can result in some security scanners that only consider the package version to report the package as vulnerable. To avoid this, we suggest that you use an approved vulnerability scanner from our This content is not included.Red Hat Vulnerability Scanner Certification program.