CyberRota Analysis
This is a high severity vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.8. It affects Linux. It is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, indicating confirmed active exploitation in the wild. Public exploit code or proof-of-concept references have been detected in its references. Its EPSS score suggests a 52.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
Public Exploit Signal
A public exploit, PoC, GitHub repository or Metasploit reference was detected for this CVE.
Note: these links are listed for security research and verification purposes only.
CISA KEV Details
Status: This CVE is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
Ransomware use: Unknown
Added to KEV: 2021-12-10
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Original NVD Description
In the Linux kernel before 5.1.17, ptrace_link in kernel/ptrace.c mishandles the recording of the credentials of a process that wants to create a ptrace relationship, which allows local users to obtain root access by leveraging certain scenarios with a parent-child process relationship, where a parent drops privileges and calls execve (potentially allowing control by an attacker). One contributing factor is an object lifetime issue (which can also cause a panic). Another contributing factor is incorrect marking of a ptrace relationship as privileged, which is exploitable through (for example) Polkit's pkexec helper with PTRACE_TRACEME. NOTE: SELinux deny_ptrace might be a usable workaround in some environments.
Related CVEs
Other vulnerabilities affecting the same vendor(s)