Linux Kernel up to 5.2.14 on PowerPC Hardware Transaction process.c input validation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.2.14 on PowerPC. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c of the component Hardware Transaction Handler. The manipulation leads to input validation. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2019-15030. An attack has to be approached locally. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.2.14 on PowerPC (Operating System). This issue affects an unknown functionality of the file arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c of the component Hardware Transaction Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a input validation vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-20. The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. Impacted is confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel through 5.2.14 on the powerpc platform, a local user can read vector registers of other users' processes via a Facility Unavailable exception. To exploit the venerability, a local user starts a transaction (via the hardware transactional memory instruction tbegin) and then accesses vector registers. At some point, the vector registers will be corrupted with the values from a different local Linux process because of a missing arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c check.

The weakness was shared 09/13/2019 (Website). It is possible to read the advisory at access.redhat.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2019-15030 since 08/14/2019. Attacking locally is a requirement. The successful exploitation needs a simple authentication. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/14/2024).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 208605 (CentOS 7 : kernel-alt (RHSA-2020:0740)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (208605). The entries VDB-140765, VDB-140890, VDB-141092 and VDB-141232 are related to this item. Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.2.0
• 5.2.1
• 5.2.2
• 5.2.3
• 5.2.4
• 5.2.5
• 5.2.6
• 5.2.7
• 5.2.8
• 5.2.9
• 5.2.10
• 5.2.11
• 5.2.12
• 5.2.13
• 5.2.14

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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CPE 2.2info

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