Vulnerability Note VU#142228

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.

I. 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.

II. Impact

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

III. 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.

Systems Affected

Vendor	Status	Date Notified	Date Updated
SGI	Vulnerable	11-Jun-2003

References

http://www.secunia.com/advisories/8996/
ftp://patches.sgi.com/support/free/security/advisories/20030603-01-P
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

Credit

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

Date Public:	2003-06-10
Date First Published:	2003-06-11
Date Last Updated:	2003-06-11
CERT Advisory:
CVE-ID(s):	CAN-2003-0175
NVD-ID(s):	CAN-2003-0175
US-CERT Technical Alerts:
Metric:	2.16
Document Revision:	8

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.