Description
An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 4.17.2. The filter parsing in kernel/trace/trace_events_filter.c could be called with no filter, which is an N=0 case when it expected at least one line to have been read, thus making the N-1 index invalid. This allows attackers to cause a denial of service (slab out-of-bounds write) or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted perf_event_open and mmap system calls.
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.
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-azure-edge | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kernel-source | 5.14.6-1.4 | openSUSE-SU-2024:13704-1, openSUSE-SU-2024:10728-1 |
Advisories 2
- openSUSE-SU-2024:13704-1 kernel-devel-longterm-6.6.17-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:10728-1 kernel-devel-5.14.6-1.4 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
References
- https://github.com/lcytxw/bug_repro/tree/master/bug_200019
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/81f9c4e4177d31ced6f52a89bb70e93bfb77ca03
- http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=81f9c4e4177d31ced6f52a89bb70e93bfb77ca03
- https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=200019
- 104544 vdb-entry