Eleven-year-old root Linux kernel flaw found and patched
Credit to Author: Lucian Constantin| Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2017 07:49:00 -0800
Linux system administrators should be on the watch for kernel updates because they fix a local privilege escalation flaw that could lead to a full system compromise.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2017-6074, is over 11 years old and was likely introduced in 2005 when the Linux kernel gained support for the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP). The problem was discovered last week and was patched by the kernel developers on Friday.
The flaw can be exploited locally by using heap spraying techniques to execute arbitrary code inside the kernel, the most privileged part of the OS. Andrey Konovalov, the Google researcher who found the vulnerability, plans to publish an exploit for it a few days.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Healthcare organizations (HCOs) around the world are under attack. The data they store and process has become a valuable commodity on the cybercriminal underground and has even been linked to nation state attacks. In 2015, more than 113 million records were stolen in the U.S. alone, according to the Department of Health and Human Services….
