#VU2552 Buffer overflow in Linux kernel - CVE-2015-5156

Vulnerability identifier: #VU2552

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 4.9 [CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2015-5156

CWE-ID: CWE-120

Exploitation vector: Local network

Exploit availability: No

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

Vendor: Linux Foundation

Description
The vulnerability allows an adjacent attacker to cause DoS condition on the target system.

The weakness exists in the virtnet_probe function in drivers/net/virtio_net.c due to attempts to support a FRAGLIST feature without proper memory allocation. An adjacent attacker can submit a specially crafted sequence of fragmented packets, trigger buffer overflow and 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=48900cb6af4282fa0fb6ff4d72a81aa3dadb5c39

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote non-authenticated attacker via the local network (LAN).

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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