CVE-2022-2991

A heap-based buffer overflow was found in the Linux kernels LightNVM subsystem. The issue results from the lack of proper validation of the length of user-supplied data prior to copying it to a fixed-length heap-based buffer. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code in the context of the kernel. The attacker must first obtain the ability to execute high-privileged code on the target system to exploit this vulnerability.

Weakness

A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.
• D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.
• Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.
• Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.
• For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/92.html

References

• https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/drivers/lightnvm/Kconfig?h=v5.10.114\u0026id=549209caabc89f2877ad5f62d11fca5c052e0e8
• https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-22-960/
• https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/drivers/lightnvm/Kconfig?h=v5.10.114\u0026id=549209caabc89f2877ad5f62d11fca5c052e0e8
• https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-22-960/