CVE-2016-2847: Medium severity linux kernel vulnerability
fs/pipe.c in the Linux kernel before 4.5 does not limit the amount of unread data in pipes, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by creating many pipes with non-default sizes.
Other sources
On no-so-small systems, it is possible for a single process to cause an OOM condition by filling large pipes with data that are never read. A typical process filling 4096 pipes with 1 MB of data will use 4 GB of memory. On small systems it may be tricky to set the pipe max size to prevent this from happening. The result is an OOM condition and oom-killer is not able to help much, as the memory for the pipe data is a kernel memory and a memory footprint of offensive processes is small.
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=759c01142a5d0f364a462346168a56de28a80f52
Discussion threads: https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg92912.html | https://lkml.org/lkml/2015/12/28/150 https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg93317.html | https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/1/11/310 https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-fsdevel/msg93601.html | https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/1/18/171
CVE request and assignment: http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2016/q1/467 http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2016/q1/538
— Red Hat
Affected Software
Remediation
Patch Available
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2016-2847?
CVE-2016-2847 has a severity rating that indicates it can lead to denial of service by consuming excessive memory.
How do I fix CVE-2016-2847?
To fix CVE-2016-2847, update the Linux kernel to version 4.5 or later, or apply the relevant patches provided by your distribution.
Which versions of Linux are affected by CVE-2016-2847?
CVE-2016-2847 affects Linux kernel versions before 4.5, as well as specific versions of SUSE Linux Enterprise products.
What is the impact of CVE-2016-2847?
The impact of CVE-2016-2847 includes the potential for local users to create a denial of service through high memory consumption.
Who can exploit CVE-2016-2847?
CVE-2016-2847 can be exploited by local users on the system, as it does not require remote access.