Note: This is an archival copy of Security Sun Alert 231403 as previously published on http://sunsolve.sun.com.
Latest version of this security advisory is available from http://support.oracle.com as Sun Alert 1018976.1.
Article ID : 1018976.1
Article Type : Sun Alerts (SURE)
Last reviewed : 2008-03-10
Audience : PUBLIC
Copyright Notice: Copyright © 2010, Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.

A Security Vulnerability Relating to Inter-Process Communication (IPC) May Lead to a Denial of Service (DoS)



Category
Security

Release Phase
Resolved

Bug Id
6642234

Product
Solaris 10 Operating System

Date of Resolved Release
11-Mar-2008

A Security Vulnerability Relating to Inter-Process Communication (IPC) May Lead to a Denial of Service (DoS)

1. Impact

A security vulnerability relating to the Inter-Process Communication (IPC) message queue sub-system may allow a local unprivileged user to block all I/O on a message queue until the system is rebooted. This is a type of Denial of Service (DoS).

2. Contributing Factors

This issue can occur in the following releases:

SPARC Platform
  • Solaris 10 with patch 127111-02 through 127111-09 and without patch 127111-10
x86 Platform
  • Solaris 10 with patch 127112-02 through 127112-09 and without patch 127112-10
Note: Solaris 8 and Solaris 9 are not affected by this issue.

3. Symptoms

IPC message queue I/O (from the perspective of the application) to one or more message queues will hang. An attempt to ascertain the state of the message queue sub-system with the command
    $ ipcs -qa
will also hang after the command has output its heading to the screen.

For further confirmation that this issue has occurred, a system panic could be forced when the above symptom was being exhibited, and the following command run on the resultant core file:
    # echo "::walk thread_cache |::findstack !grep msg_fnd_neg_snd" |mdb -k unix.0 vmcore.
000002a10232eff1 msg_fnd_neg_snd+0xd8()
This indicates that the kernel function msg_fnd_neg_snd() was present on one of the thread stack backtraces which is another symptom that this issue has likely occurred.

Notes:
  1. Care needs to be taken as to when and how a system panic is forced; utilities such as 'halt -d', 'reboot -d', or kmdb '$<systemdump' may be used for this purpose; however, contact your systems administrator or local support center for advice if you are in any way unsure about how to proceed with this operation.
  2. By default, crash dumps are written to "/var/crash/<hostname>". See dumpadm(1M) for further information.

4. Workaround

There is no workaround for this issue. Please see the Resolution section below.

5. Resolution

This issue is addressed in the following releases:

SPARC Platform
  • Solaris 10 with patch 127111-10 or later
x86 Platform
  • Solaris 10 with patch 127112-10 or later
For more information on Security Sun Alerts, see 1009886.1.

This Sun Alert notification is being provided to you on an "AS IS" basis. This Sun Alert notification may contain information provided by third parties. The issues described in this Sun Alert notification may or may not impact your system(s). Sun makes no representations, warranties, or guarantees as to the information contained herein. ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. BY ACCESSING THIS DOCUMENT YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SUN SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES THAT ARISE OUT OF YOUR USE OR FAILURE TO USE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This Sun Alert notification contains Sun proprietary and confidential information. It is being provided to you pursuant to the provisions of your agreement to purchase services from Sun, or, if you do not have such an agreement, the Sun.com Terms of Use. This Sun Alert notification may only be used for the purposes contemplated by these agreements.

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References

127112-10
127111-10





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