Critical Escalation Vulnerability Found in the Linux Kernel

Nov 16, 2022

A new local privilege escalation vulnerability has been discovered in the Linux kernel and users are encouraged to upgrade/patch immediately.

RedHat added a new CVE code, listed as 2022-3977, which is described as a use-after-free flaw. A use-after flaw can occur when a program attempts to use memory that has been released.

CVE 2022-3977 resides in the Linux kernel MCTP (Management Component Transport Protocol). How this vulnerability works is after a user simultaneously calls DROPTAG ioctl at the same time a socket close occurs. When this happens, the vulnerability can then be used to elevate privileges all the way up to root.

This CVE has been listed as Moderate, with a CVSS v3 base score of 7.0 and the vulnerability was found in the most recent upstream Linux kernel.

It was the Active Defense Lab of Venustech that originally reported the vulnerability, finding it came into being in v5.18.0 with the commit 63ed1aab3d40aa61aaa66819bdce9377ac7f40fa. Fortunately, with a recent commit, the vulnerability has been patched.

If you have a Linux machine running kernel 5.18, you should immediately run an upgrade to patch the kernel. Most major repositories have most likely added the patch to their standard repositories.

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