Linux Kernel up to 5.2.14 on PowerPC process.c information disclosure

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.2.14 on PowerPC. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c. The manipulation results in information disclosure. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2019-15031. Attacking locally is a requirement. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.2.14 on PowerPC (Operating System). Affected is some unknown functionality of the file arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a information disclosure vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-200. The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel through 5.2.14 on the powerpc platform, a local user can read vector registers of other users' processes via an interrupt. 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 MSR_TM_ACTIVE is misused in arch/powerpc/kernel/process.c.

The weakness was published 09/13/2019 (Website). The advisory is shared for download at lists.opensuse.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2019-15031 since 08/14/2019. The attack needs to be approached locally. A authentication is required for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1592.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 208557 (CentOS 7 : kernel-alt (RHSA-2020:1493)), 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 (208557). Similar entries are available at VDB-140229, VDB-140284, VDB-140765 and VDB-140890. Once again VulDB remains the best source 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/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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