Linux Kernel Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in xt_compat_target_from_user()

Very old vulnerability, it can be exploited for LPE. Kernels starting from v2.6.19 are affected.

https://github.com/google/security-research/security/advisories/GHSA-xxx5-8mvq-3528

KMSAN, a look under the hood

A talk about the internals of KernelMemorySanitizer — a tool that finds uses of uninitialized memory and information leaks. By Alexander Potapenko.

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNs2U-3m3yg
Slides: https://github.com/ramosian-glider/talks-and-presentations/blob/master/2021/KernelMemorySanitizer_a_look_under_the_hood.pdf

Exploitation of a double free vulnerability in Ubuntu shiftfs driver

A very detailed article by Vincent Dehors. The author describes his exploit for Pwn2Own Vancouver, where he got LPE on Ubuntu Groovy 20.10.

https://www.synacktiv.com/publications/exploitation-of-a-double-free-vulnerability-in-ubuntu-shiftfs-driver-cve-2021-3492.html

CVE-2021-22555: Turning \x00\x00 into 10000$ by Andy Nguyen

CVE-2021-22555 is a 15 years old heap out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Linux Netfilter that is powerful enough to bypass all modern security mitigations and achieve kernel code execution. It was used to break the kubernetes pod isolation of the kCTF cluster and won 10000$.

https://google.github.io/security-research/pocs/linux/cve-2021-22555/writeup.html

Amazingly, Andy independently reinvented the msgsnd() exploitation technique, that I created in January for my CVE-2021-26708 exploit:
https://a13xp0p0v.github.io/2021/02/09/CVE-2021-26708.html

Sequoia: A deep root in Linux's filesystem layer (CVE-2021-33909)

Qualys security advisory about a size_t-to-int conversion vulnerability in the Linux kernel's filesystem layer.

By creating, mounting, and deleting a deep directory structure whose total path length exceeds 1GB, an unprivileged local attacker can write the 10-byte string "//deleted" to an offset of exactly -2GB-10B below the beginning of a vmalloc()ated kernel buffer.

Report: https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/07/20/1

Kernel Pwning with eBPF: a Love Story by Valentina Palmiotti

The detailed overview of eBPF from the exploit developer's perspective and the analysis of the CVE-2021-3490 exploit for Ubuntu 20.10.

https://www.graplsecurity.com/post/kernel-pwning-with-ebpf-a-love-story

[BugTales] Da Vinci Hits a Nerve: Exploiting Huawei’s NPU Driver by Gyorgy Miru

A detailed article about exploiting vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel driver for Huawei Neural-network Processing Unit.

https://labs.taszk.io/articles/post/exploiting_huaweis_npu_driver/

Variant analysis of the 'Sequoia' bug

Using CodeQL to rediscover the Sequoia bug recently disclosed by Qualys. As well as finding a few other ones. By Jordy Zomer.

https://pwning.systems/posts/sequoia-variant-analysis/

Fuzzing Linux with Xen

A DEF CON talk about fuzzing the Linux kernel over DMA-based interfaces with Xen. By Tamas K Lengyel.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dXC_I2ybr4
Slides: https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2029/DEF%20CON%2029%20presentations/Tamas%20K%20Lengyel%20-%20Fuzzing%20Linux%20with%20Xen.pdf

Linux Security Summit 2021

The schedule for Linux Security Summit has been published. The summit will be happening from Sep 29th to Oct 1st.

I'll be giving a talk about the new MTE-based KASAN mode on the last day.

Two DEF CON talks about eBPF-based rootkits

#1: "eBPF, I thought we were friends!" (video) by Guillaume Fournier and Sylvain Afchain
#2: "Warping Reality: Creating and Countering the Next Generation of Linux Rootkits" (video) by Pat Hogan

Both are about building a rootkit via malicious eBPF programs. The programs are constrained to what the verifier permits (i.e., no AARW), but the allowed functionality is enough to mess with userspace daemons for LPE and with network packets for C&C.

Big improvements in my Linux Kernel Defence Map showing:
🔴Vulnerability classes
🟠Exploitation techniques
🟣Bug detection mechanisms
🟢Defence technologies
Now it represents Linux v5.12.
I added KASAN_HW_TAGS with ARM64_MTE, AUTOSLAB, KFENCE and many more
https://github.com/a13xp0p0v/linux-kernel-defence-map

How AUTOSLAB Changes the Memory Unsafety Game

An article about AUTOSLAB — a grsecurity hardening feature, which prevents certain heap-based exploitation scenarios.

Besides having purely grsecurity-related info, it contains an analysis of the techniques used in the heap-based exploits from the last 5 years.

By Zhenpeng Lin.

Samsung S10+/S9 kernel 4.14 (Android 10) Kernel Function Address (.text) and Heap Address Information Leak

An article about an info-leak in the ptrace subsystem. The bug was fixed upstream two years ago, but it still affects some Red Hat and Samsung kernels, as those didn't backport the fix.

Improving the exploit for CVE-2021-26708 in the Linux kernel to bypass LKRG

I improved my PoC exploit for CVE-2021-26708, added a full-power ROP chain, and implemented a new method of bypassing the Linux Kernel Runtime Guard (LKRG).

Article: https://a13xp0p0v.github.io/2021/08/25/lkrg-bypass.html

Slides for ZeroNights conference: https://a13xp0p0v.github.io/img/CVE-2021-26708_LKRG_bypass.pdf

The Art of Exploiting UAF by Ret2bpf in Android Kernel by Xingyu Jin and Richard Neal

Slides for the talk about exploiting an Android kernel UAF bug (CVE-2021-0399) through ret2bpf.

https://conference.hitb.org/hitbsecconf2021sin/materials/D1T1%20-%20%20The%20Art%20of%20Exploiting%20UAF%20by%20Ret2bpf%20in%20Android%20Kernel%20-%20Xingyu%20Jin%20&%20Richard%20Neal.pdf

Video of this talk is published:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7UXtirV1Vzg

Solving the Kernote CTF task from 0CTF/TCTF Final 2021 by Matteo Rizzo

Nice writeup about exploiting UAF in the Linux kernel and using pt_regs for the ROP chain.

https://org.anize.rs/0CTF-2021-finals/pwn/kernote

Mitigating Linux kernel memory corruptions with Arm Memory Tagging

Memory tagging is coming to kill all of your favorite Linux kernel exploits.

I'll be premiering my "Mitigating Linux kernel memory corruptions with Arm Memory Tagging" LSS talk on YouTube in 24 hours. Please join in! I'll be in the YouTube chat during the talk to answer questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwMt0e_dC_Q

The video is now public. The slides are here.

Linux Plumbers 2021

A few security-related talks from the Linux Plumbers conference this year:

- Detecting semantic bugs using differential fuzzing by Mara Mihali [video] [slides]
- Compiler Features for Kernel Security by Kees Cook [slides] [video]
- Rust for Linux by Miguel Ojeda [slides] [video]
- Android drivers in Rust by Wedson Almeida Filho [slides] [video]
- A proof-carrying approach to building correct and flexible BPF verifiers by Luke Nelson [slides] [video]

And there are many generic Linux and Android kernel–related talks, see the schedule and YouTube.