SGI IRIX vulnerable to DoS when user space program calls the PIOCSWATCH ioctl() function

Overview

A vulnerability in the SGI IRIX PIOCSWATCH ioctl() function may allow local attackers to crash the operating system.

Description

SGI states that PIOCSWATCH ioctl “establishes or clears a set of watched areas in the traced process.” According to SGI Security Advisory 20030603-01-P, a local attacker could crash the operating system by exploiting this vulnerability:

It's been reported that non-root users can call the PIOCSWATCH ioctl() in its various invocations via a user space program and crash IRIX with a kernel panic. This could be used as a potential Denial of Service attack on the system. A local account on the system is required.

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Impact

A local attacker may be able to crash the operating system.

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Solution

The vendor encourages users to either upgrade to IRIX 6.5.21 (when it becomes available) or apply a patch as described in SGI Security Advisory 20030603-01-P.

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Vendor Information

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Updated: June 11, 2003

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

See <ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20030603-01-P&gt;.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

The CERT/CC has no additional comments at this time.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us [email](<mailto:[email protected]?Subject=VU%23142228 Feedback>).

CVSS Metrics

Group	Score	Vector
Base
Temporal
Environmental

References

• <http://www.secunia.com/advisories/8996/&gt;
• <ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20030603-01-P&gt;
• http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?coll=0650&db=man&fname=/usr/share/catman/p_man/cat4/proc.z&srch=PIOCSWATCH

Acknowledgements

Thanks to SGI for reporting this vulnerability.

This document was written by Ian A Finlay, and is based on information contained within the SGI Security Advisory 20030603-01-P.

Other Information

CVE IDs:	CVE-2003-0175
Severity Metric:	2.16 Date Public: