An excessive resource consumption flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's networking subsystem processed TCP segments. If the Maximum Segment Size (MSS) of a TCP connection was set to low values, such as 48 bytes, it can leave as little as 8 bytes for the user data, which significantly increases the Linux kernel's resource (CPU, Memory, and Bandwidth) utilization. A remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service (DoS) by repeatedly sending network traffic on a TCP connection with low TCP MSS.
Tag: NFLX-2019-001
ASA-2019-00366 – Linux kernel: Excessive resource consumption while processing SACK blocks allows remote denial of service
An excessive resource consumption flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's networking subsystem processed TCP Selective Acknowledgment (SACK) segments. While processing SACK segments, the Linux kernel's socket buffer (SKB) data structure becomes fragmented, which leads to increased resource utilization to traverse and process these fragments as further SACK segments are received on the same TCP connection. A remote attacker could use this flaw to cause a denial of service (DoS) by sending a crafted sequence of SACK segments on a TCP connection.
ASA-2019-00365 – Linux kernel: Integer overflow while processing SACK blocks allows remote denial of service (SACK Panic)
An integer overflow flaw was found in the way the Linux kernel's networking subsystem processed TCP Selective Acknowledgment (SACK) segments. While processing SACK segments, the Linux kernel's socket buffer (SKB) data structure becomes fragmented. Each fragment is about TCP maximum segment size (MSS) bytes. To efficiently process SACK blocks, the Linux kernel merges multiple fragmented SKBs into one, potentially overflowing the variable holding the number of segments. A remote attacker could use this flaw to crash the Linux kernel by sending a crafted sequence of SACK segments on a TCP connection with small value of TCP MSS, resulting in a denial of service (DoS).