#VU12263 NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2017-15116

Vulnerability identifier: #VU12263

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 4.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2017-15116

CWE-ID: CWE-476

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Linux kernel
Operating systems & Components / Operating system

Vendor: Linux Foundation

Description
The vulnerability allows a local attacker to cause DoS condition on the target system.

The weakness exists in the rngapi_reset function in crypto/rng.c due to NULL pointer dereference. A local attacker can cause the service to crash.

Mitigation
Update to version 4.2.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 4.1

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External links
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=94f1bb15bed84ad6c89391...

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.