Description
The netlink subsystem in the Linux kernel 2.4.x before 2.4.37.6 and 2.6.x before 2.6.13-rc1 does not initialize certain padding fields in structures, which might allow local users to obtain sensitive information from kernel memory via unspecified vectors, related to the (1) tc_fill_qdisc, (2) tcf_fill_node, (3) neightbl_fill_info, (4) neightbl_fill_param_info, (5) neigh_fill_info, (6) rtnetlink_fill_ifinfo, (7) rtnetlink_fill_iwinfo, (8) vif_delete, (9) ipmr_destroy_unres, (10) ipmr_cache_alloc_unres, (11) ipmr_cache_resolve, (12) inet6_fill_ifinfo, (13) tca_get_fill, (14) tca_action_flush, (15) tcf_add_notify, (16) tc_dump_action, (17) cbq_dump_police, (18) __nlmsg_put, (19) __rta_fill, (20) __rta_reserve, (21) inet6_fill_prefix, (22) rsvp_dump, and (23) cbq_dump_ovl functions.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 4 | kernel +10 | 2.6.9-89.0.15.EL | RHSA-2009:1522 |
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2009:1522 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
References
- [oss-security] 20090917 Re: CVE request: kernel: tc: uninitialised kernel memory leak mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20090916 Re: CVE request: kernel: tc: uninitialised kernel memory leak mailing-list
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.4.37.y.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=30e744716c4a6cc4e8ecaaddf68f20057c03dc8d
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=9ef1d4c7c7aca1cd436612b6ca785b726ffb8ed8
- 37084 third-party-advisory
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/v2.6.13/ChangeLog-2.6.13-rc1
- RHSA-2009:1522 vendor-advisory
- 37909 third-party-advisory
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.37.6
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.4.37.y.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=3408cce0c2f380884070896420ca566704452fb5
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:11744 vdb-entry signature
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=521601
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=8a47077a0b5aa2649751c46e7a27884e6686ccbf
- SUSE-SA:2009:064 vendor-advisory
- [bk-commits-head] 20050629 [NETLINK]: Missing initializations in dumped data mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20090906 Re: CVE request: kernel: tc: uninitialised kernel memory leak mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20090907 Re: CVE request: kernel: tc: uninitialised kernel memory leak mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20090905 Re: CVE request: kernel: tc: uninitialised kernel memory leak mailing-list
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.4.37.y.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=0f3f2328f63c521fe4b435f148687452f98b2349
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b3563c4fbff906991a1b4ef4609f99cca2a0de6a