medium
5.5
CWE
385 203
Advisory Published
CVE Published
Updated

CVE-2019-19338

First published: Mon Nov 18 2019(Updated: )

A flaw was found in the fix for CVE-2019-11135, in the Linux upstream kernel versions before 5.5 where, the way Intel CPUs handle speculative execution of instructions when a TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA) error occurs. When a guest is running on a host CPU affected by the TAA flaw (TAA_NO=0), but is not affected by the MDS issue (MDS_NO=1), the guest was to clear the affected buffers by using a VERW instruction mechanism. But when the MDS_NO=1 bit was exported to the guests, the guests did not use the VERW mechanism to clear the affected buffers. This issue affects guests running on Cascade Lake CPUs and requires that host has 'TSX' enabled. Confidentiality of data is the highest threat associated with this vulnerability.

Credit: secalert@redhat.com

Affected SoftwareAffected VersionHow to fix
redhat/kernel-rt<0:3.10.0-1062.18.1.rt56.1044.el7
0:3.10.0-1062.18.1.rt56.1044.el7
redhat/kernel<0:3.10.0-1062.18.1.el7
0:3.10.0-1062.18.1.el7
redhat/kernel<0:3.10.0-957.48.1.el7
0:3.10.0-957.48.1.el7
redhat/kernel-rt<0:4.18.0-147.5.1.rt24.98.el8_1
0:4.18.0-147.5.1.rt24.98.el8_1
redhat/kernel<0:4.18.0-147.5.1.el8_1
0:4.18.0-147.5.1.el8_1
redhat/Kernel<5.5
5.5
IBM Data Risk Manager<=2.0.6
Linux kernel<5.5
Red Hat Enterprise Linux=6.0

Remedy

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-19338

Remedy

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/12/10/3

Remedy

Please refer to the Red Hat Knowledgebase Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) Asynchronous Abort article (https://access.redhat.com/solutions/tsx-asynchronousabort) for mitigation instructions.

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Reference Links

Parent vulnerabilities

(Appears in the following advisories)

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the severity of CVE-2019-19338?

    CVE-2019-19338 is classified as a medium-severity vulnerability due to its impact on speculative execution handling in affected Intel CPUs.

  • How do I fix CVE-2019-19338?

    To fix CVE-2019-19338, upgrade to a kernel version that is at least 5.5 or install the recommended updates for your Red Hat or IBM systems.

  • Which systems are affected by CVE-2019-19338?

    CVE-2019-19338 affects Linux kernel versions prior to 5.5, including specific Red Hat and IBM products as detailed in the vulnerability report.

  • Is CVE-2019-19338 related to other vulnerabilities?

    Yes, CVE-2019-19338 is a flaw found in the fix for another vulnerability, CVE-2019-11135, and it affects speculative execution handling.

  • What type of attack can exploit CVE-2019-19338?

    CVE-2019-19338 can potentially be exploited to execute unauthorized code due to improper speculative execution management in affected Intel CPUs.

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