Description
The cfg80211_wext_giwessid function in net/wireless/wext-compat.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.36-rc3-next-20100831 does not properly initialize certain structure members, which allows local users to leverage an off-by-one error in the ioctl_standard_iw_point function in net/wireless/wext-core.c, and obtain potentially sensitive information from kernel heap memory, via vectors involving an SIOCGIWESSID ioctl call that specifies a large buffer size.
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 6 | perf +14 | 2.6.32-71.7.1.el6 | RHSA-2010:0842 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat MRG 1 | perf +10 | 2.6.33.7-rt29.45.el5rt | RHSA-2010:0771 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kernel-source | 4.8.13-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2024:10128-1 |
Advisories 3
- RHSA-2010:0842 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 28, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:10128-1 kernel-debug-4.8.13-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- RHSA-2010:0771 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel-rt security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jan 14, 2026
References
- USN-1000-1 vendor-advisory
- RHSA-2010:0771 vendor-advisory
- 42885 vdb-entry
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=42da2f948d949efd0111309f5827bf0298bcc9a4
- [linux-kernel] 20100830 Re: [PATCH] wireless: fix 64K kernel heap content leak via ioctl mailing-list
- http://grsecurity.net/~spender/wireless-infoleak-fix2.patch
- SUSE-SA:2011:007 vendor-advisory
- [linux-kernel] 20100830 Re: [PATCH] wireless extensions: fix kernel heap content leak mailing-list
- RHSA-2010:0842 vendor-advisory
- [oss-security] 20100831 CVE-2010-2955 kernel: wireless: fix 64K kernel heap content leak via ioctl mailing-list
- ADV-2011-0298 vdb-entry
- [linux-kernel] 20100827 [PATCH] wireless: fix 64K kernel heap content leak via ioctl mailing-list
- http://forums.grsecurity.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2290
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=628434
- 41245 third-party-advisory
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/next/patch-v2.6.36-rc3-next-20100831.bz2
- [linux-kernel] 20100830 [PATCH] wireless extensions: fix kernel heap content leak mailing-list
- SUSE-SA:2010:054 vendor-advisory