CVE-2020-12770: Use After Free

Published Apr 14, 2020
·
Updated

A vulnerability was found in sgwrite in drivers/scsi/sg.c in SCSI generic (sg) driver subsystem. An attacker with a local access and special user privilege (or root) can cause a denial of service (DoS) if allocated list is not cleaned with invalid (Sgfd sfp) pointer at the time of failure, failing this can even cause a kernel internal information leak problem.

Reference and upstream commit: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=83c6f2390040f188cc25b270b4befeb5628c1aee

Other sources

A vulnerability was found in sgwrite in drivers/scsi/sg.c in the SCSI generic (sg) driver subsystem. This flaw allows an attacker with local access and special user or root privileges to cause a denial of service if the allocated list is not cleaned with an invalid (Sgfd sfp) pointer at the time of failure, also possibly causing a kernel internal information leak problem.

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 5.6.11. sgwrite lacks an sgremoverequest call in a certain failure case, aka CID-83c6f2390040.

Affected Software

78 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/kernel-rt<0:3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7
0:3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7
redhat/kernel<0:3.10.0-1160.el7
0:3.10.0-1160.el7
redhat/kernel<0:3.10.0-693.81.1.el7
0:3.10.0-693.81.1.el7
redhat/kernel<0:3.10.0-957.65.1.el7
0:3.10.0-957.65.1.el7
redhat/kernel<0:3.10.0-1062.40.1.el7
0:3.10.0-1062.40.1.el7
redhat/kernel-rt<0:4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8
0:4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8
redhat/kernel<0:4.18.0-240.el8
0:4.18.0-240.el8
Linux Linux kernel<=5.6.11
Fedoraproject Fedora=30
Fedoraproject Fedora=31
Fedoraproject Fedora=32
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=14.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=16.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=18.04
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=19.10
Canonical Ubuntu Linux=20.04
Debian Debian Linux=8.0
Debian Debian Linux=9.0
Debian Debian Linux=10.0
NetApp Active Iq Unified Manager Vmware Vsphere
NetApp Cloud Backup
NetApp Element Software
NetApp Hci Management Node
NetApp Solidfire
NetApp Steelstore Cloud Integrated Storage
NetApp Bootstrap Os
NetApp Hci Compute Node
NetApp A700s Firmware
NetApp A700s
NetApp H300s Firmware
NetApp H300s
NetApp H500s Firmware
NetApp H500s
NetApp H700s Firmware
NetApp H700s
NetApp H300e Firmware
NetApp H300e
NetApp H500e Firmware
NetApp H500e
NetApp H700e Firmware
NetApp H700e
NetApp H410s Firmware
NetApp H410s
NetApp H410c Firmware
NetApp H410c
NetApp H610c Firmware
NetApp H610c
NetApp H610s Firmware
NetApp H610s
NetApp H615c Firmware
NetApp H615c
All of the following
NetApp Bootstrap Os
NetApp Hci Compute Node
All of the following
NetApp A700s Firmware
NetApp A700s
All of the following
NetApp H300s Firmware
NetApp H300s
All of the following
NetApp H500s Firmware
NetApp H500s
All of the following
NetApp H700s Firmware
NetApp H700s
All of the following
NetApp H300e Firmware
NetApp H300e
All of the following
NetApp H500e Firmware
NetApp H500e
All of the following
NetApp H700e Firmware
NetApp H700e
All of the following
NetApp H410s Firmware
NetApp H410s
All of the following
NetApp H410c Firmware
NetApp H410c
All of the following
NetApp H610c Firmware
NetApp H610c
All of the following
NetApp H610s Firmware
NetApp H610s
All of the following
NetApp H615c Firmware
NetApp H615c
debian/linux
5.10.223-15.10.262-16.1.176-16.1.180-16.12.94-16.12.101-17.1.8-17.1.8-2

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel-rt to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:3.10.0-1160.el7
  3. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:3.10.0-693.81.1.el7
  4. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:3.10.0-957.65.1.el7
  5. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:3.10.0-1062.40.1.el7
  6. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel-rt to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8
  7. Upgrade

    Upgrade redhat/kernel to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 0:4.18.0-240.el8
  8. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/linux to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 5.10.223-1Fixed in 5.10.262-1Fixed in 6.1.176-1Fixed in 6.1.180-1Fixed in 6.12.94-1Fixed in 6.12.101-1Fixed in 7.1.8-1Fixed in 7.1.8-2
  9. Upgrade

    Upgrade Linux kernel to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Patch CID-83c6f2390040
  10. Compensating control

    Apply the upstream fix corresponding to commit CID-83c6f2390040 by ensuring sg_write failure paths invoke the missing sg_remove_request call so the allocated list is cleaned and the invalid (Sg_fd *sfp) pointer is not left uncleared, preventing DoS and potential kernel internal information leak.

Event History

Apr 14, 2020
CVE Published
12:00 AM
May 9, 2020
CVE Published
via MITRE·08:16 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·08:16 PM
Description
Data Sourced
via NVD·09:15 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
May 12, 2020
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·02:15 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Aug 6, 2025
Data Sourced
via Launchpad·03:44 AM
Description
Aug 14, 2026
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·04:23 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Aug 16, 2026
Data Sourced
via Debian·04:26 PM
DescriptionAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2020-12770?

CVE-2020-12770 has a severity rating that may lead to Denial of Service (DoS) under specific conditions.

2

How do I fix CVE-2020-12770?

To fix CVE-2020-12770, upgrade to the recommended kernel versions from the vendors as specified in the security advisories.

3

What systems are affected by CVE-2020-12770?

CVE-2020-12770 affects multiple versions of the Linux kernel and specific Linux distributions including Red Hat, Fedora, and Debian.

4

Can CVE-2020-12770 be exploited remotely?

CVE-2020-12770 requires local access and special user privileges to be exploited, making it less likely to be exploited remotely.

5

What is the potential impact of CVE-2020-12770?

The impact of CVE-2020-12770 includes potential Denial of Service (DoS), affecting system availability.

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