CVE-2019-5023
5.9 · MEDIUMOverview
CVE-2019-5023 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting opensrcsec grsecurity. It was published on October 31, 2019 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.9 (MEDIUM).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.9, rated MEDIUM. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
An exploitable vulnerability exists in the grsecurity PaX patch for the function read_kmem, in PaX from version pax-linux-4.9.8-test1 to 4.9.24-test7, grsecurity official from version grsecurity-3.1-4.9.8-201702060653 to grsecurity-3.1-4.9.24-201704252333, grsecurity unofficial from version v4.9.25-unofficialgrsec to v4.9.74-unofficialgrsec. PaX adds a temp buffer to the read_kmem function, which is never freed when an invalid address is supplied. This results in a memory leakage that can lead to a crash of the system. An attacker needs to induce a read to /dev/kmem using an invalid address to exploit this vulnerability.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from opensrcsec. Update grsecurity to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| opensrcsec | grsecurity | 3.1-4.9.8-201702060653 | Affected |
| opensrcsec | pax | pax-linux-4.9.8-test1 | Affected |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2019-5023?
CVE-2019-5023 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting opensrcsec grsecurity. It was published on October 31, 2019 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.9 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2019-5023?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.9, rated MEDIUM. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2019-5023?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from opensrcsec. Update grsecurity to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2019-5023?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2019-5023 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
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