Description
Use-after-free vulnerability in the xacct_add_tsk function in kernel/tsacct.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.19 allows local users to obtain potentially sensitive information from kernel memory or cause a denial of service (system crash) via a taskstats TASKSTATS_CMD_ATTR_PID command.
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.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 2.6.20-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 2.6.20-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | linux | 2.6.20-1 | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 5 | kernel +12 | 2.6.18-308.16.1.el5 | RHSA-2012:1323 |
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2012:1323 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 28, 2026
References
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/f0ec1aaf54caddd21c259aea8b2ecfbde4ee4fb9
- 50811 third-party-advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=849722
- RHSA-2012:1323 vendor-advisory
- 55144 vdb-entry
- [oss-security] 20120820 Re: CVE Request -- kernel: taskstats: use-after-free in xacct_add_tsk() mailing-list
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=f0ec1aaf54caddd21c259aea8b2ecfbde4ee4fb9
- 1027602 vdb-entry
- http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.19