CVE-2017-1000112 - Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

Severity

69%

Complexity

34%

Confidentiality

165%

Linux kernel: Exploitable memory corruption due to UFO to non-UFO path switch. When building a UFO packet with MSG_MORE __ip_append_data() calls ip_ufo_append_data() to append. However in between two send() calls, the append path can be switched from UFO to non-UFO one, which leads to a memory corruption. In case UFO packet lengths exceeds MTU, copy = maxfraglen - skb->len becomes negative on the non-UFO path and the branch to allocate new skb is taken. This triggers fragmentation and computation of fraggap = skb_prev->len - maxfraglen. Fraggap can exceed MTU, causing copy = datalen - transhdrlen - fraggap to become negative. Subsequently skb_copy_and_csum_bits() writes out-of-bounds. A similar issue is present in IPv6 code. The bug was introduced in e89e9cf539a2 ("[IPv4/IPv6]: UFO Scatter-gather approach") on Oct 18 2005.

Linux kernel: Exploitable memory corruption due to UFO to non-UFO path switch. When building a UFO packet with MSG_MORE __ip_append_data() calls ip_ufo_append_data() to append. However in between two send() calls, the append path can be switched from UFO to non-UFO one, which leads to a memory corruption. In case UFO packet lengths exceeds MTU, copy = maxfraglen - skb->len becomes negative on the non-UFO path and the branch to allocate new skb is taken. This triggers fragmentation and computation of fraggap = skb_prev->len - maxfraglen. Fraggap can exceed MTU, causing copy = datalen - transhdrlen - fraggap to become negative. Subsequently skb_copy_and_csum_bits() writes out-of-bounds. A similar issue is present in IPv6 code. The bug was introduced in e89e9cf539a2 ("[IPv4/IPv6]: UFO Scatter-gather approach") on Oct 18 2005.

CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7. CVSS Attack Vector: local. CVSS Attack Complexity: high. CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

CVSS 2.0 Base Score 6.9. CVSS Attack Vector: local. CVSS Attack Complexity: medium. CVSS Vector: (AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C).

Demo Examples

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

CWE-362

This code could be used in an e-commerce application that supports transfers between accounts. It takes the total amount of the transfer, sends it to the new account, and deducts the amount from the original account.


               
NotifyUser("New balance: $newbalance");
FatalError("Bad Transfer Amount");
FatalError("Insufficient Funds");

A race condition could occur between the calls to GetBalanceFromDatabase() and SendNewBalanceToDatabase().

Suppose the balance is initially 100.00. An attack could be constructed as follows:


               
PROGRAM-2 sends a request to update the database, setting the balance to 99.00

At this stage, the attacker should have a balance of 19.00 (due to 81.00 worth of transfers), but the balance is 99.00, as recorded in the database.

To prevent this weakness, the programmer has several options, including using a lock to prevent multiple simultaneous requests to the web application, or using a synchronization mechanism that includes all the code between GetBalanceFromDatabase() and SendNewBalanceToDatabase().

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

CWE-362

The following function attempts to acquire a lock in order to perform operations on a shared resource.


               
}
pthread_mutex_unlock(mutex);/* access shared resource */

However, the code does not check the value returned by pthread_mutex_lock() for errors. If pthread_mutex_lock() cannot acquire the mutex for any reason, the function may introduce a race condition into the program and result in undefined behavior.

In order to avoid data races, correctly written programs must check the result of thread synchronization functions and appropriately handle all errors, either by attempting to recover from them or reporting it to higher levels.


               
}
return pthread_mutex_unlock(mutex);
return result;
/* access shared resource */

Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

CWE-362

Suppose a processor's Memory Management Unit (MMU) has 5 other shadow MMUs to distribute its workload for its various cores. Each MMU has the start address and end address of "accessible" memory. Any time this accessible range changes (as per the processor's boot status), the main MMU sends an update message to all the shadow MMUs.

Suppose the interconnect fabric does not prioritize such "update" packets over other general traffic packets. This introduces a race condition. If an attacker can flood the target with enough messages so that some of those attack packets reach the target before the new access ranges gets updated, then the attacker can leverage this scenario.

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