Newly discovered Linux vulnerability rated 10 in severity

Linux administrators are being warned to address five new vulnerabilities, one of which is rated 10 on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) severity ranking.

The vulnerabilities are listed by Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), a project that pays security researchers for finding vulnerabilities.

The most serious of the five, designated ZDI-22-1690, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code on affected installations of Linux Kernel. Authentication is not required to exploit this vulnerability, but only systems with ksmbd enabled are vulnerable.

The specific flaw exists within the processing of SMB2_TREE_DISCONNECT commands. The issue results from the lack of validating the existence of an object prior to performing operations on the object. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the kernel.

An update has been issued to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found here.

Almost as serious is a vulnerability in the handling of SMB2_WRITE commands, rated 9.6 in severity. Designated ZDI-22-1691, it allows remote attackers to disclose sensitive information on affected installations of Linux Kernel. Authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability.

An update has been issued to correct this vulnerability. Details can be found here.

A third vulnerability, ZDI-22-1688, is rated 8.5 in severity. The specific flaw exists within the handling of file attributes. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a heap-based buffer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code in the context of the kernel.

More information about the bug and the patch can be found here.

The other vulnerabilities revealed Thursday are ranked at 6.5 and 5.3 in severity.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Howard Solomon
Howard Solomon
Currently a freelance writer. Former editor of ITWorldCanada.com and Computing Canada. An IT journalist since 1997, Howard has written for several of ITWC's sister publications, including ITBusiness.ca. Before arriving at ITWC he served as a staff reporter at the Calgary Herald and the Brampton (Ont.) Daily Times.

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