The Linux kernel before 2.6.31-rc7 does not initialize certain data structures within getname functions, which allows local users to read the contents of some kernel memory locations by calling getsockname on (1) an AF_APPLETALK socket, related to the atalk_getname function in net/appletalk/ddp.c; (2) an AF_IRDA socket, related to the irda_getname function in net/irda/af_irda.c; (3) an AF_ECONET socket, related to the econet_getname function in net/econet/af_econet.c; (4) an AF_NETROM socket, related to the nr_getname function in net/netrom/af_netrom.c; (5) an AF_ROSE socket, related to the rose_getname function in net/rose/af_rose.c; or (6) a raw CAN socket, related to the raw_getname function in net/can/raw.c.
The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux_kernel | Linux | * | 2.6.31 (excluding) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31 (including) | 2.6.31 (including) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31-rc1 (including) | 2.6.31-rc1 (including) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31-rc2 (including) | 2.6.31-rc2 (including) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31-rc3 (including) | 2.6.31-rc3 (including) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31-rc4 (including) | 2.6.31-rc4 (including) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31-rc5 (including) | 2.6.31-rc5 (including) |
| Linux_kernel | Linux | 2.6.31-rc6 (including) | 2.6.31-rc6 (including) |
| MRG for RHEL-5 | RedHat | kernel-rt-0:2.6.24.7-137.el5rt | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 | RedHat | kernel-0:2.4.21-63.EL | * |
| Linux | Ubuntu | hardy | * |
| Linux | Ubuntu | intrepid | * |
| Linux | Ubuntu | jaunty | * |
| Linux-source-2.6.15 | Ubuntu | dapper | * |
There are many different kinds of mistakes that introduce information exposures. The severity of the error can range widely, depending on the context in which the product operates, the type of sensitive information that is revealed, and the benefits it may provide to an attacker. Some kinds of sensitive information include:
Information might be sensitive to different parties, each of which may have their own expectations for whether the information should be protected. These parties include:
Information exposures can occur in different ways:
It is common practice to describe any loss of confidentiality as an “information exposure,” but this can lead to overuse of CWE-200 in CWE mapping. From the CWE perspective, loss of confidentiality is a technical impact that can arise from dozens of different weaknesses, such as insecure file permissions or out-of-bounds read. CWE-200 and its lower-level descendants are intended to cover the mistakes that occur in behaviors that explicitly manage, store, transfer, or cleanse sensitive information.