CVE-2011-2484 Denial of service in n/a

Medium 4.9 Published 24 Jun 2011 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Local attackers can cause denial of service and bypass OOM Killer by registering multiple exit handlers in the Linux kernel taskstats subsystem.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2011-2484?

CVE-2011-2484 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 2011. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The add_del_listener function in kernel/taskstats.c in the Linux kernel 2.6.39.1 and earlier does not prevent multiple registrations of exit handlers, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory and CPU consumption), and bypass the OOM Killer, via a crafted application.

Weakness: CWE-399

Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-2484?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2011-2484?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2011-2484 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-2484 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-p7j7-98vm-rqxh.