CVE-2010-4805

The socket implementation in net/core/sock.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.35 does not properly manage a backlog of received packets, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service by sending a large amount of network traffic, related to the sk_add_backlog function and the sk_rmem_alloc socket field. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2010-4251.

Weakness

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:

• The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.

• The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/147.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/227.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/492.html

References

• http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=c377411f2494a931ff7facdbb3a6839b1266bcf6
• http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-netdev/2010/3/3/6271093/thread
• http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.35
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/46637
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=657303
• http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=c377411f2494a931ff7facdbb3a6839b1266bcf6
• http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-netdev/2010/3/3/6271093/thread
• http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.35
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/46637
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=657303