#VU2590 Privilege escalation in Linux kernel - CVE-2015-5157

Vulnerability identifier: #VU2590

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 2.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2015-5157

CWE-ID: CWE-264

Exploitation vector: Network

Exploit availability: No

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

Vendor: Linux Foundation

Description
The vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the target system.

The weakness exists in arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S on the x86_64 platform due to mishandling of IRET faults in processing NMIs that occurred during userspace execution. A local attacker can trigger NMI and bypass security restrictions.

Mitigation
Update to version 4.1.6.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 4.1.1 - 4.1.4

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External links
https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.1.6

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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 Internet.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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