CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2009-4226

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

Published: Dec 08, 2009 | Modified: Aug 17, 2017
CVSS 3.x
N/A
Source:
NVD
CVSS 2.x
7.1 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
Ubuntu

Race condition in the IP module in the kernel in Sun OpenSolaris snv_106 through snv_124 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and panic) via unspecified vectors related to the (1) tcp_do_getsockname or (2) tcp_do_getpeername function.

Weakness

The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Opensolaris Sun snv_106 (including) snv_106 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_107 (including) snv_107 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_108 (including) snv_108 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_109 (including) snv_109 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_110 (including) snv_110 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_111 (including) snv_111 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_112 (including) snv_112 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_113 (including) snv_113 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_114 (including) snv_114 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_115 (including) snv_115 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_116 (including) snv_116 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_117 (including) snv_117 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_118 (including) snv_118 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_119 (including) snv_119 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_120 (including) snv_120 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_121 (including) snv_121 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_122 (including) snv_122 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_123 (including) snv_123 (including)
Opensolaris Sun snv_124 (including) snv_124 (including)

Extended Description

This can have security implications when the expected synchronization is in security-critical code, such as recording whether a user is authenticated or modifying important state information that should not be influenced by an outsider. A race condition occurs within concurrent environments, and is effectively a property of a code sequence. Depending on the context, a code sequence may be in the form of a function call, a small number of instructions, a series of program invocations, etc. A race condition violates these properties, which are closely related:

A race condition exists when an “interfering code sequence” can still access the shared resource, violating exclusivity. Programmers may assume that certain code sequences execute too quickly to be affected by an interfering code sequence; when they are not, this violates atomicity. For example, the single “x++” statement may appear atomic at the code layer, but it is actually non-atomic at the instruction layer, since it involves a read (the original value of x), followed by a computation (x+1), followed by a write (save the result to x). The interfering code sequence could be “trusted” or “untrusted.” A trusted interfering code sequence occurs within the product; it cannot be modified by the attacker, and it can only be invoked indirectly. An untrusted interfering code sequence can be authored directly by the attacker, and typically it is external to the vulnerable product.

Potential Mitigations

  • Minimize the usage of shared resources in order to remove as much complexity as possible from the control flow and to reduce the likelihood of unexpected conditions occurring.
  • Additionally, this will minimize the amount of synchronization necessary and may even help to reduce the likelihood of a denial of service where an attacker may be able to repeatedly trigger a critical section (CWE-400).

References