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vulnerability CVE-2012-0723

AIX: denial of service via dupmsg

Synthesis of the vulnerability

A local attacker can use the dupmsg() system call, in order to stop the kernel.
Impacted products: AIX.
Severity: 1/4.
Creation date: 27/07/2012.
Identifiers: BID-54706, CERTA-2012-AVI-410, CVE-2012-0723, IV22693, IV22694, IV22695, IV22696, IV22697, VIGILANCE-VUL-11800.

Description of the vulnerability

The AIX kernel supports STREAMS, which are used by drivers to transfer data.

The dupmsg() system call duplicates a STREAMS message, by calling dupb() to duplicate each block. However, dupmsg() does not check if its parameter is a valid message. The dupb() function is then called with an invalid memory address, which stops the kernel.

Moreover, this system call should only be reserved for drivers, and should not be available for user mode applications.

A local attacker can therefore use the dupmsg() system call, in order to stop the kernel.
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