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Posted on 14 January 2016
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FreeBSD-SA-16:04.linux Security Advisory
The FreeBSD Project
Topic: Linux compatibility layer setgroups(2) system call
vulnerability
Category: core
Module: kernel
Announced: 2016-01-14
Credits: Dmitry Chagin
Affects: All supported versions of FreeBSD
Corrected: 2016-01-14 09:11:42 UTC (stable/10, 10.2-STABLE)
2016-01-14 09:10:46 UTC (releng/10.2, 10.2-RELEASE-p9)
2016-01-14 09:11:16 UTC (releng/10.1, 10.1-RELEASE-p26)
2016-01-14 09:11:48 UTC (stable/9, 9.3-STABLE)
2016-01-14 09:11:26 UTC (releng/9.3, 9.3-RELEASE-p33)
CVE Name: CVE-2016-1881
For general information regarding FreeBSD Security Advisories,
including descriptions of the fields above, security branches, and the
following sections, please visit <URL:https://security.FreeBSD.org/>.
I. Background
FreeBSD is binary-compatible with the Linux operating system through a
loadable kernel module/optional kernel component. The support is
provided on amd64 and i386 machines.
II. Problem Description
A programming error in the Linux compatibility layer setgroups(2) system
call can lead to an unexpected results, such as overwriting random kernel
memory contents.
III. Impact
It is possible for a local attacker to overwrite portions of kernel
memory, which may result in a privilege escalation or cause a system
panic.
IV. Workaround
No workaround is available, but systems not using the Linux binary
compatibility layer are not vulnerable.
The following command can be used to test if the Linux binary
compatibility layer is loaded:
# kldstat -m linuxelf
V. Solution
Perform one of the following:
1) Upgrade your vulnerable system to a supported FreeBSD stable or
release / security branch (releng) dated after the correction date.
Reboot the system or unload and reload the linux.ko kernel module.
2) To update your vulnerable system via a binary patch:
Systems running a RELEASE version of FreeBSD on the i386 or amd64
platforms can be updated via the freebsd-update(8) utility:
# freebsd-update fetch
# freebsd-update install
Reboot the system or unload and reload the linux.ko kernel module.
3) To update your vulnerable system via a source code patch:
The following patches have been verified to apply to the applicable
FreeBSD release branches.
a) Download the relevant patch from the location below, and verify the
detached PGP signature using your PGP utility.
# fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/SA-16:04/linux.patch
# fetch https://security.FreeBSD.org/patches/SA-16:04/linux.patch.asc
# gpg --verify linux.patch.asc
b) Apply the patch. Execute the following commands as root:
# cd /usr/src
# patch < /path/to/patch
# cd /usr/src/amd64/linux32
# make sysent
# cd /usr/src/i386/linux
# make sysent
c) Recompile your kernel as described in
<URL:https://www.FreeBSD.org/handbook/kernelconfig.html>.
Reboot the system or unload and reload the linux.ko kernel module.
VI. Correction details
The following list contains the correction revision numbers for each
affected branch.
Branch/path Revision
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
stable/9/ r293898
releng/9.3/ r293896
stable/10/ r293897
releng/10.1/ r293894
releng/10.2/ r293893
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
To see which files were modified by a particular revision, run the
following command, replacing NNNNNN with the revision number, on a
machine with Subversion installed:
# svn diff -cNNNNNN --summarize svn://svn.freebsd.org/base
Or visit the following URL, replacing NNNNNN with the revision number:
<URL:https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=NNNNNN>
VII. References
<URL:https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2016-1881>
The latest revision of this advisory is available at
<URL:https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-16:04.linux.asc>
