Description
The socket implementation in net/core/sock.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.34 does not properly manage a backlog of received packets, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by sending a large amount of network traffic, as demonstrated by netperf UDP tests.
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 | 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6 | RHSA-2011:0542 |
| RHEL 5 | kernel +12 | 2.6.18-238.5.1.el5 | RHSA-2011:0303 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 6.0 EUS | perf +14 | 2.6.32-71.31.1.el6 | RHSA-2011:0883 |
Advisories 3
- RHSA-2011:0542 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 kernel security, bug fix and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- RHSA-2011:0883 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Nov 22, 2025
- RHSA-2011:0303 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Nov 22, 2025
References
- 20111013 VMSA-2011-0012 VMware ESXi and ESX updates to third party libraries and ESX Service Console mailing-list
- 46397 third-party-advisory
- [netdev] 20100302 [PATCH 1/8] net: add limit for socket backlog mailing-list
- 46637 vdb-entry
- http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2011-0012.html
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.34
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=657303
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=8eae939f1400326b06d0c9afe53d2a484a326871