Common Weakness Enumeration

CWE-667

Allowed-with-Review

Improper Locking

Abstraction: Class · Status: Draft

API response cwe.mitre.org

The product does not properly acquire or release a lock on a resource, leading to unexpected resource state changes and behaviors.

51 vulnerabilities reference this CWE, most recent first.

CVE-2019-3901 (GCVE-0-2019-3901)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2019-04-22 15:22 – Updated: 2024-08-04 19:26
VLAI
Summary
A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs. As no relevant locks (in particular the cred_guard_mutex) are held during the ptrace_may_access() call, it is possible for the specified target task to perform an execve() syscall with setuid execution before perf_event_alloc() actually attaches to it, allowing an attacker to bypass the ptrace_may_access() check and the perf_event_exit_task(current) call that is performed in install_exec_creds() during privileged execve() calls. This issue affects kernel versions before 4.8.
Severity
5.6 (Medium)
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
CWE
Assigner
redhat CNA
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
The Linux Foundation kernel Affected: older then 4.8
Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2024-08-04T19:26:26.688Z",
          "orgId": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
          "shortName": "CVE"
        },
        "references": [
          {
            "name": "89937",
            "tags": [
              "vdb-entry",
              "x_refsource_BID",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/89937"
          },
          {
            "name": "[debian-lts-announce] 20190528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1799-1] linux security update",
            "tags": [
              "mailing-list",
              "x_refsource_MLIST",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/05/msg00041.html"
          },
          {
            "name": "[debian-lts-announce] 20190528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1799-2] linux security update",
            "tags": [
              "mailing-list",
              "x_refsource_MLIST",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/05/msg00042.html"
          },
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_refsource_CONFIRM",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190517-0005/"
          },
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_refsource_CONFIRM",
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3901"
          }
        ],
        "title": "CVE Program Container"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "product": "kernel",
          "vendor": "The Linux Foundation",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "older then 4.8"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "A race condition in perf_event_open() allows local attackers to leak sensitive data from setuid programs. As no relevant locks (in particular the cred_guard_mutex) are held during the ptrace_may_access() call, it is possible for the specified target task to perform an execve() syscall with setuid execution before perf_event_alloc() actually attaches to it, allowing an attacker to bypass the ptrace_may_access() check and the perf_event_exit_task(current) call that is performed in install_exec_creds() during privileged execve() calls. This issue affects kernel versions before 4.8."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_0": {
            "attackComplexity": "HIGH",
            "attackVector": "LOCAL",
            "availabilityImpact": "NONE",
            "baseScore": 5.6,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH",
            "integrityImpact": "NONE",
            "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
            "scope": "CHANGED",
            "userInteraction": "NONE",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N",
            "version": "3.0"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-667",
              "description": "CWE-667",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2020-12-04T18:00:59.000Z",
        "orgId": "53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749",
        "shortName": "redhat"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "name": "89937",
          "tags": [
            "vdb-entry",
            "x_refsource_BID"
          ],
          "url": "http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/89937"
        },
        {
          "name": "[debian-lts-announce] 20190528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1799-1] linux security update",
          "tags": [
            "mailing-list",
            "x_refsource_MLIST"
          ],
          "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/05/msg00041.html"
        },
        {
          "name": "[debian-lts-announce] 20190528 [SECURITY] [DLA 1799-2] linux security update",
          "tags": [
            "mailing-list",
            "x_refsource_MLIST"
          ],
          "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/05/msg00042.html"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190517-0005/"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "x_refsource_CONFIRM"
          ],
          "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3901"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749",
    "assignerShortName": "redhat",
    "cveId": "CVE-2019-3901",
    "datePublished": "2019-04-22T15:22:15.000Z",
    "dateReserved": "2019-01-03T00:00:00.000Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2024-08-04T19:26:26.688Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.1"
}
Mitigation
Implementation

Strategy: Libraries or Frameworks

Use industry standard APIs to implement locking mechanism.

CAPEC-25: Forced Deadlock

The adversary triggers and exploits a deadlock condition in the target software to cause a denial of service. A deadlock can occur when two or more competing actions are waiting for each other to finish, and thus neither ever does. Deadlock conditions can be difficult to detect.

CAPEC-26: Leveraging Race Conditions

The adversary targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently, and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The adversary can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance, a race condition can occur while accessing a file: the adversary can trick the system by replacing the original file with their version and cause the system to read the malicious file.

CAPEC-27: Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links

This attack leverages the use of symbolic links (Symlinks) in order to write to sensitive files. An attacker can create a Symlink link to a target file not otherwise accessible to them. When the privileged program tries to create a temporary file with the same name as the Symlink link, it will actually write to the target file pointed to by the attackers' Symlink link. If the attacker can insert malicious content in the temporary file they will be writing to the sensitive file by using the Symlink. The race occurs because the system checks if the temporary file exists, then creates the file. The attacker would typically create the Symlink during the interval between the check and the creation of the temporary file.

← Back to the CWE list