Description
mm/shmem.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.28-rc8, when strict overcommit is enabled and CONFIG_SECURITY is disabled, does not properly handle the export of shmemfs objects by knfsd, which allows attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and knfsd crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2010-1643.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat MRG 1 | kernel-rt +10 | 2.6.24.7-161.el5rt | RHSA-2010:0631 |
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2010:0631 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel-rt security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 28, 2026
References
- MDVSA-2010:198 vendor-advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=595970
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/v2.6.28/ChangeLog-2.6.28-rc8
- kernel-shmem-dos(59224) vdb-entry
- [oss-security] 20100527 Re: CVE request - kernel: nfsd: fix vm overcommit crash mailing-list
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=1b79cd04fab80be61dcd2732e2423aafde9a4c1c