Linux TIPC Module Contains Critical Vulnerability

[Esben_D]

A new vulnerability in the Linux Kernel TIPC module has been disclosed affecting all Linux distributions with a Kernel version lower than 5.15. The vulnerability can be exploited both locally and remotely within a network.

Find out more in the Linux TIPC vulnerability blog post + report.

[itkenyohk]

Hi,

According to the researcher's blog (Max Van Amerongen@SentinelOne):

As this vulnerability was discovered within a year of its introduction into the codebase, TIPC users should ensure that their Linux kernel version is not between 5.10-rc1 and 5.15.

That means Linux kernel version lower than 5.10-rc1 (stable version 5.10) should not be affected by this vulnerability, as the affected function is added to the kernel since version 5.10:

In September 2020, a new user message type was introduced called MSG_CRYPTO, which allows peers to send cryptographic keys (at the moment, only AES GCM appears to be supported). This is part of the 2021 TIPC roadmap.

The patch was committed to the kernel versions 5.15 (mainline), 5.14.16 (stable) and 5.10.77 (LTS).

Note that the module is not automatically loaded by default.

Lansweeper users may want to adjust the report according to their needs.


Regards,
Ken


Reference:

• Linux kernel source tree - tipc: add automatic session key exchange
  
• https://lwn.net/Articles/874852/
  
• https://www.zdnet.com/article/remote-code-execution-flaw-patched-in-linux-kernel-tipc-module/
  
• https://www.kernel.org/

[Esben_D]

I adjusted the report to only show kernel versions 5.11,5.12,5.13 and 5.14 as vulnerable.

Since the wording used is vague, and since a fix was added in 5.15, version 5.10 is presumed not affected (versions between 5.10 and 5.15 but not including).