#VU92783 Null pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2019-16231

Vulnerability identifier: #VU92783

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv4.0: 1.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-16231

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

drivers/net/fjes/fjes_main.c in the Linux kernel 5.2.14 does not check the alloc_workqueue return value, leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's repository.

Vulnerable software versions

Linux kernel: All versions

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External links
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00035.html
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00039.html
https://lkml.org/lkml/2019/9/9/487
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4225-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4225-2/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4226-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4227-1/
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4227-2/

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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.