CyberRota Analysis
AI-GeneratedThe vulnerability affects the Linux kernel's CIFS (Common Internet File System) implementation, allowing unprivileged local processes to send critical notifications to the in-kernel witness handler and join multicast groups without proper capability checks. This could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information, including usernames and passwords from NTLM-authenticated sessions. Organizations using Linux systems that implement CIFS should prioritize patching this vulnerability to mitigate the risk of local privilege escalation and data exposure.
Original NVD Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: require net admin for CIFS SWN netlink CIFS_GENL_CMD_SWN_NOTIFY is the userspace witness-notify command. The intended sender is the cifs.witness helper, but the generic-netlink operation currently has no capability flag, so any local process can send RESOURCE_CHANGE or CLIENT_MOVE notifications to the in-kernel witness handler. The same family exposes CIFS_GENL_MCGRP_SWN without multicast-group capability flags. Register messages sent to that group include the witness registration id and, for NTLM-authenticated mounts, the username, domain, and password attributes copied from the CIFS session. An unprivileged local process should not be able to join that group and receive those messages. Require CAP_NET_ADMIN for incoming SWN_NOTIFY commands with GENL_ADMIN_PERM, and require CAP_NET_ADMIN over the network namespace for joining the SWN multicast group with GENL_MCAST_CAP_NET_ADMIN. The cifs.witness service runs with the privileges needed for both operations.
Related CVEs
Other vulnerabilities affecting the same vendor(s)