CVE-2021-3156

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Last Modified: UTC

Description

A flaw was found in sudo. A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the way sudo parses command line arguments. This flaw is exploitable by any local user who can execute the sudo command (by default, any local user can execute sudo) without authentication. Successful exploitation of this flaw could lead to privilege escalation. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality and integrity as well as system availability.

Statement

This flaw does not affect the versions of sudo shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, because the vulnerable code was not present in these versions.

Mitigation

Red Hat Product Security strongly recommends customers to update to fixed sudo packages once they are available. For customers who cannot update immediately, the following interim partial mitigation using systemtap is suggested:

1. Install required systemtap packages and dependencies:

systemtap yum-utils kernel-devel-"$(uname -r)"

Then for RHEL 7 install kernel debuginfo, using:

debuginfo-install -y kernel-"$(uname -r)" 
Then for RHEL 8 & 6 install sudo debuginfo, using:
debuginfo-install sudo

2. Create the following systemtap script: (call the file as sudoedit-block.stap)

probe process("/usr/bin/sudo").function("main")  {
command = cmdline_args(0,0,"");
if (isinstr(command, "edit")) {
raise(9);
}
}
3. Install the script using the following command: (using root)
# nohup stap -g sudoedit-block.stap &
(This should output the PID number of the systemtap script)

This script will cause the vulnerable sudoedit binary to stop working. The sudo command will still work as usual.
The above change does not persist across reboots and must be applied after each reboot.

Please consult How to make a systemtap kernel module load persistently across reboots? (https://access.redhat.com/solutions/5752521) to learn how to
turn this into a service managed by initd.

4. Once the new fixed packages are installed, the systemtap script can be removed by killing the systemtap process. For example, by using:

# kill -s SIGTERM 7590
(where 7590 is the PID of the systemtap process)

Affected Packages and Issued Red Hat Security Errata

Products / Services Components State Errata
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 sudo Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Extended Lifecycle Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0227
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0221
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 Advanced Update Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0226
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3 Advanced Update Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0225
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Advanced Update Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0224
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Telco Extended Update Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0224
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0224
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 Extended Update Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0223
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 Extended Update Support sudo Fixed RHSA-2021:0222
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:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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.