Vigil@nce: Linux kernel, denial of service via rtl8169
June 2009 by Vigil@nce
An attacker can send a long packet in order to stop systems with
the rtl8169 driver.
Severity: 2/4
Consequences: denial of service of computer
Provenance: LAN
Means of attack: 1 attack
Ability of attacker: technician (2/4)
Confidence: confirmed by the editor (5/5)
Diffusion of the vulnerable configuration: high (3/3)
Creation date: 10/06/2009
IMPACTED PRODUCTS
– Linux kernel
DESCRIPTION OF THE VULNERABILITY
The rtl8169 driver implements the support of network adapters of
the Realtek RTL81xx suite. These adapters can receive Ethernet
frames with a size of 16383 bytes (jumbo frames).
However, the rtl8169 driver only supports 1500 bytes. Longer
frames generate an overflow.
An attacker located on a network supporting jumbo frames can
therefore send a long frame in order to generate a denial of
service, and eventually to execute code.
CHARACTERISTICS
Identifiers: BID-35281, CVE-2009-1389, VIGILANCE-VUL-8786
http://vigilance.fr/vulnerability/Linux-kernel-denial-of-service-via-rtl8169-8786