THREATPORT/VULNERABILITY/CVE-2019-10639
HIGH SEVERITY

CVE-2019-10639

Linux Kernel vulnerability

CVSS
7.5
EPSS
3.3%
EPSS pct
87th
Exploited
No known
The Linux kernel 4.x (starting from 4.1) and 5.x before 5.0.8 allows Information Exposure (partial kernel address disclosure), leading to a KASLR bypass. Specifically, it is possible to extract the KASLR kernel image offset using the IP ID values the kernel produces for connection-less protocols (e.g., UDP and ICMP). When such traffic is sent to multiple destination IP addresses, it is possible to obtain hash collisions (of indices to the counter array) and thereby obtain the hashing key (via enumeration). This key contains enough bits from a kernel address (of a static variable) so when the key is extracted (via enumeration), the offset of the kernel image is exposed. This attack can be carried out remotely, by the attacker forcing the target device to send UDP or ICMP (or certain other) traffic to attacker-controlled IP addresses. Forcing a server to send UDP traffic is trivial if the server is a DNS server. ICMP traffic is trivial if the server answers ICMP Echo requests (ping). For client targets, if the target visits the attacker's web page, then WebRTC or gQUIC can be used to force UDP traffic to attacker-controlled IP addresses. NOTE: this attack against KASLR became viable in 4.1 because IP ID generation was changed to have a dependency on an address associated with a network namespace.
Affected vendor
Linux
Affected product
Linux Kernel
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness type (CWE)
  • CWE-326 — Inadequate Encryption Strength
Published
2019-07-05

Risk analysis

Based on its CVSS vector, this vulnerability is exploitable over the network, low attack complexity, requiring no privileges, no user interaction. Successful exploitation leads to high impact to confidentiality.

Its EPSS score of 3.3% reflects a lower probability of exploitation activity in the wild over the next 30 days, placing it above 87% of all scored CVEs.

Check your external exposure to CVE-2019-10639

  • Confirm whether Linux Linux Kernel is running on any internet-facing host or subdomain.
  • Match discovered service fingerprints against the version affected by CVE-2019-10639.
  • Prioritise remediation if the asset is public, business-critical, or near authentication/payment flows.

How ThreatPort helps with CVE-2019-10639

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