Bug 85385 – sys_epoll_wait() Integer Overflow (CAN-2005-0736)

• Product: Gentoo Security
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Jean-François Brunette (RETIRED) 2005-03-15 11:49:02 UTC]

CVE reference:	CAN-2005-0736

Description:
Georgi Guninski has reported a potential vulnerability in the Linux kernel, which may be exploited by malicious people to gain escalated privileges.

The vulnerability is caused due to an integer overflow in the "sys_epoll_wait()" function and can be exploited to cause a buffer overflow overwriting low kernel memory.

Successful exploitation may potentially allow execution of arbitrary code with escalated privileges. However, few applications reportedly use the affected part of the kernel memory space.

The vulnerability has been reported in versions 2.6 through 2.6.11.

Solution:
Update to version 2.6.11.2 or later.
http://kernel.org/

Original Advisory:
http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.11.2

[Comment 1 solar (RETIRED) 2005-03-15 12:32:49 UTC]

hardened-dev-sources-2.6.11-r1 is marked stable with .11.2 (base)

[Comment 2 Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-03-16 02:26:15 UTC]

From Ubuntu's latest:

Georgi Guninski discovered an integer overflow in the sys_epoll_wait()
function which allowed local users to overwrite the first few kB of
physical memory. However, very few applications actually use this
space (dosemu is a notable exception), but potentially this could lead
to privilege escalation. (CAN-2005-0736)

[Comment 3 Thierry Carrez (RETIRED) 2005-03-16 03:16:37 UTC]

Mass-Ccing [e-mail] to make sure Kernel Security guys know about all
of these...

[Comment 4 Daniel Drake (RETIRED) 2005-03-19 06:18:48 UTC]

Fixed in gentoo-dev-sources-2.6.11-r4

[Comment 5 Joshua Kinard 2005-04-23 22:26:05 UTC]

mips-sources fixed.

[Comment 6 Daniel Drake (RETIRED) 2005-04-29 17:40:12 UTC]

Fixed in usermode-sources-2.6.11

[Comment 7 Daniel Drake (RETIRED) 2005-05-10 15:32:12 UTC]

Fixed in ck-sources-2.6.11-r7

[Comment 8 Tim Yamin (RETIRED) 2005-07-26 13:33:34 UTC]

All fixed, closing bug.