#VU43985 Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2012-2390

Vulnerability identifier: #VU43985

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 4.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2012-2390

CWE-ID: CWE-401

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

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

Vendor: Linux Foundation

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to memory leak within mm/hugetlb.c in the Linux kernel before 3.4.2 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption or system crash) via invalid MAP_HUGETLB mmap operations. A remote attacker can perform a denial of service attack.

Mitigation
Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address this vulnerability.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: 3.4

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External links
https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=c50ac050811d6485616a193eb0f37bfbd191cc89
https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.4.2
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/05/23/14
https://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1515-1
https://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1535-1
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=824345
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/c50ac050811d6485616a193eb0f37bfbd191cc89

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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.