Race condition in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 4.4 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service via use-after-free vulnerability by leveraging incorrect handling of an swevent data structure during a CPU unplug operation.
Find out more about CVE-2015-8963 from the MITRE CVE dictionary dictionary and NIST NVD.
This issue affects the Linux kernel shipping with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Future updates for the respective releases may address the issue.
This issue does not not affect Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 7, MRG-2 kernels.
This has been rated as having Moderate security impact and is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/.
NOTE: The following CVSS v3 metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
| CVSS3 Base Score | 7 |
|---|---|
| CVSS3 Base Metrics | CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Attack Vector | Local |
| Attack Complexity | High |
| Privileges Required | Low |
| User Interaction | None |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High |
| Integrity Impact | High |
| Availability Impact | High |
| Platform | Package | State |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 | realtime-kernel | Not affected |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-rt | Not affected |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel | Not affected |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | kernel | Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | kernel | Not affected |
A possible mitigation is to only remove CPU's while the system is shut down. This will prevent local attackers from being able to abuse this flaw.
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