CVE-2017-13715

The __skb_flow_dissect function in net/core/flow_dissector.c in the Linux kernel before 4.3 does not ensure that n_proto, ip_proto, and thoff are initialized, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a single crafted MPLS packet.

Weakness

The product does not initialize or incorrectly initializes a resource, which might leave the resource in an unexpected state when it is accessed or used.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
• For example, in Java, if the programmer does not explicitly initialize a variable, then the code could produce a compile-time error (if the variable is local) or automatically initialize the variable to the default value for the variable’s type. In Perl, if explicit initialization is not performed, then a default value of undef is assigned, which is interpreted as 0, false, or an equivalent value depending on the context in which the variable is accessed.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/26.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/29.html

References

• http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a6e544b0a88b53114bfa5a57e21b7be7a8dfc9d0
• http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2017/q3/345
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100517
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/a6e544b0a88b53114bfa5a57e21b7be7a8dfc9d0
• http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=a6e544b0a88b53114bfa5a57e21b7be7a8dfc9d0
• http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2017/q3/345
• http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100517
• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/a6e544b0a88b53114bfa5a57e21b7be7a8dfc9d0