systemd 250 and 251 allows local users to achieve a systemd-coredump deadlock by triggering a crash that has a long backtrace. This occurs in parse_elf_object in shared/elf-util.c. The exploitation methodology is to crash a binary calling the same function recursively, and put it in a deeply nested directory to make its backtrace large enough to cause the deadlock. This must be done 16 times when MaxConnections=16 is set for the systemd/units/systemd-coredump.socket file.
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Systemd | Systemd_project | 250 (including) | 251 (including) |
| Systemd | Systemd_project | 252-rc1 (including) | 252-rc1 (including) |
| Systemd | Systemd_project | 252-rc2 (including) | 252-rc2 (including) |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | RedHat | systemd-0:250-12.el9_1.3 | * |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | RedHat | systemd-0:250-12.el9_1.3 | * |
| Systemd | Ubuntu | kinetic | * |
| Systemd | Ubuntu | trusty | * |
| Systemd | Ubuntu | upstream | * |
| Systemd | Ubuntu | xenial | * |
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.