Re: [SECURITY] [DSA 1575-1] New Linux 2.6.18 packages fix denial of service

[dann frazier <dannf@dannf.org>]

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 11:52:27PM +0100, Dominic Hargreaves wrote:
> On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 03:13:14PM -0600, dann frazier wrote:
> 
> > Vulnerability  : denial of service
> 
> > CVE-2008-1669
> > 
> >     Alexander Viro discovered a race condition in the fcntl code that
> >     may permit local users on multi-processor systems to execute parallel
> >     code paths that are otherwise prohibited and gain re-ordered access
> >     to the descriptor table.
> 
> Is there any reason this has been labelled as a DoS rather than an
> potential arbitrary code execution issue (which
> http://nvd.nist.gov/nvd.cfm?cvename=CVE-2008-1669 suggests it is) - eg
> are there mitigating circumstances in the Debian kernel?

hey Dominic,
 At the time I prepared this upload, I was under the impression that
this was a potential arbitrary code execution issue (with no known
exploit). However, while preparing the DSA I didn't find convincing
evidence that this was more than a DoS. I could of course be wrong,
and if I am I'll be happy to update the advisory.

> It seems odd that Debian would release a new kernel for a single
> DoS-only vulnerability.

Yes, normally local DoS fixes are queued up and released in batches.

-- 
dann frazier