CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2020-8992

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Published: Feb 14, 2020 | Modified: Apr 27, 2022
CVSS 3.x
5.5
MEDIUM
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
4.9 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
RedHat/V2
RedHat/V3
5.5 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Ubuntu
LOW

ext4_protect_reserved_inode in fs/ext4/block_validity.c in the Linux kernel through 5.5.3 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (soft lockup) via a crafted journal size.

Weakness

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Linux_kernel Linux * 5.5.3 (including)
Linux Ubuntu bionic *
Linux Ubuntu eoan *
Linux Ubuntu precise/esm *
Linux Ubuntu upstream *
Linux Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-aws Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-aws Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-aws Ubuntu trusty/esm *
Linux-aws Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-aws-5.0 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-aws-5.0 Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-aws-5.0 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-5.3 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-aws-5.3 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-fips Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-aws-fips Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-fips Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-aws-hwe Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws-hwe Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-azure Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-azure Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-azure Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-azure Ubuntu trusty/esm *
Linux-azure Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-azure-4.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-5.3 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-azure-5.3 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-edge Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-azure-edge Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-azure-edge Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-fde Ubuntu focal *
Linux-azure-fde Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-fde-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-fips Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-azure-fips Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-azure-fips Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-bluefield Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-fips Ubuntu fips-updates/xenial *
Linux-fips Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-gcp Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-gcp Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-gcp Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-gcp-4.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-5.3 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-gcp-5.3 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-edge Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-gcp-edge Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-gcp-edge Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-fips Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-gcp-fips Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gcp-fips Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-gke Ubuntu focal *
Linux-gke Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gke Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-gke-4.15 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-gke-4.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gke-5.0 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-gke-5.0 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gke-5.3 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-gke-5.3 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gkeop Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gkeop-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-hwe Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-hwe-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe-edge Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-hwe-edge Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-hwe-edge Ubuntu esm-infra/xenial *
Linux-hwe-edge Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe-edge Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-ibm Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-ibm-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-ibm-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-intel Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-intel-iot-realtime Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-intel-iotg Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-iot Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-kvm Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-kvm Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-kvm Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-kvm Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-lowlatency Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-trusty Ubuntu precise/esm *
Linux-lts-trusty Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu trusty/esm *
Linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-nvidia Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-nvidia-6.5 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-nvidia-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-nvidia-lowlatency Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oem Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-oem Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-oem Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oem Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-oem-5.6 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oem-6.11 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oem-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oem-osp1 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-oem-osp1 Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-oem-osp1 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oracle Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-oracle Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-oracle Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oracle Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-oracle-5.0 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-oracle-5.0 Ubuntu esm-infra/bionic *
Linux-oracle-5.0 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oracle-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oracle-5.3 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-oracle-5.3 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oracle-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-oracle-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi-5.4 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi-realtime Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu eoan *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu focal *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-raspi2-5.3 Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-raspi2-5.3 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-realtime Ubuntu jammy *
Linux-realtime Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-riscv Ubuntu jammy *
Linux-riscv Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-riscv-5.15 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-riscv-6.8 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-snapdragon Ubuntu bionic *
Linux-snapdragon Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-snapdragon Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-xilinx-zynqmp Ubuntu upstream *

Extended Description

Limited resources include memory, file system storage, database connection pool entries, and CPU. If an attacker can trigger the allocation of these limited resources, but the number or size of the resources is not controlled, then the attacker could cause a denial of service that consumes all available resources. This would prevent valid users from accessing the product, and it could potentially have an impact on the surrounding environment. For example, a memory exhaustion attack against an application could slow down the application as well as its host operating system. There are at least three distinct scenarios which can commonly lead to resource exhaustion:

Resource exhaustion problems are often result due to an incorrect implementation of the following situations:

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.

References