#VU84096 NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2023-6176

Vulnerability identifier: #VU84096

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-2023-6176

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 user to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference error in the Linux kernel API for the cryptographic algorithm scatterwalk functionality in scatterwalk_copychunks(). A local user can send a malicious packet with specific socket configuration and crash the OS kernel.

Mitigation
Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: All versions

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External links
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-6176
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2219359
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=cfaa80c91f6f99b9342b6557f0f0e1143e434066

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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.