CVE-2017-7184

Out-of-bounds kernel heap access vulnerability was found in xfrm, kernel's IP framework for transforming packets. An error dealing with netlink messages from an unprivileged user leads to arbitrary read/write and privilege escalation.

This issue does not affect the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 as the code with the flaw is not present in the products listed.

This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and MRG-2. In a default or common use of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and MRG-2 this issue does not allow an unprivileged local or remote user to elevate their privileges on the system.

In order to exploit this issue the attacker needs CAP_NET_ADMIN capability, which needs to be granted especially by the administrator to the attacker's process. This in turn requires granting CAP_NET_ADMIN capability to the process' binary and/or attacker's account.

Another possibility to obtain CAP_NET_ADMIN capability in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 for an attacker is running a process inside a user+network namespace with mapped root privileges inside the namespace. Since Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 does not have unprivileged user namespaces enabled by default, local or remote unprivileged users also cannot abuse namespaces to grant this capability to themselves and elevate their privileges.

Given the severity of this issue, future Linux kernel updates for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and MRG-2 products are planned to address it.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.