Linux Kernel IMA access control

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in Linux Kernel. This affects an unknown function of the component IMA Handler. This manipulation causes access control. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2022-21505. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel (Operating System) (the affected version is unknown) and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code of the component IMA Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-284. The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the linux kernel, if IMA appraisal is used with the "ima_appraise=log" boot param, lockdown can be defeated with kexec on any machine when Secure Boot is disabled or unavailable. IMA prevents setting "ima_appraise=log" from the boot param when Secure Boot is enabled, but this does not cover cases where lockdown is used without Secure Boot. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 6.7 (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

The weakness was shared 05/09/2023. It is possible to read the advisory at bugzilla.redhat.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-21505 since 11/15/2021. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/27/2025). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 233373 (Amazon Linux 2 : kernel (ALASKERNEL-5.10-2025-086)), 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 (233373). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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