CVE-2009-1338 Security feature bypass in n/a

What is CVE-2009-1338?

CVE-2009-1338 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Apr 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The kill_something_info function in kernel/signal.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.28 does not consider PID namespaces when processing signals directed to PID -1, which allows local users to bypass the intended namespace isolation, and send arbitrary signals to all processes in all namespaces, via a kill command.

Weakness: CWE-264

Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-1338?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2009-1338?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Is CVE-2009-1338 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2009-1338 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-qwmr-cmwr-523q.