Vigil@nce: Linux kernel, memory corruption via HFS
November 2008 by Vigil@nce
SYNTHESIS
A local attacker can mount a malicious HFS image in order to
create a denial of service or to execute code.
Gravity: 1/4
Consequences: administrator access/rights, denial of service of
computer
Provenance: user shell
Means of attack: no proof of concept, no attack
Ability of attacker: expert (4/4)
Confidence: confirmed by the editor (5/5)
Diffusion of the vulnerable configuration: medium (2/3)
Creation date: 14/11/2008
IMPACTED PRODUCTS
– Linux kernel
DESCRIPTION
The HFS filesystem is mainly used on Mac OS.
The hfs_cat_find_brec() function of fs/hfs/catalog.c file searches
a record in a HFS catalog. However, if the size of the record name
is longer than HFS_NAMELEN, a buffer overflow occurs in memcpy().
A local attacker, allowed to mount a HFS filesystem, can therefore
mount a malicious HFS image in order to create a denial of service
or to execute code.
CHARACTERISTICS
Identifiers: BID-32289, CVE-2008-5025, VIGILANCE-VUL-8246