Sophos threat researcher, Nick Gregory has uncovered a bug in Linux Netfilter. The bug allows an attacker to launch DDoS attacks and achieve kernel code execution on compromised devices.
Linux Netfilter is a Linux security program that controls access to and from Linux’s network stack.
The bug tracked as CVE2022-25636 has a 7.8 severity score. It is present in the Linux kernel versions 5.4 to version 5.6.10.
Other affected distribution releases include Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.x, Debian Bullseye, Ubuntu Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise 15.3.
Highlighting how dangerous the bug is, Red Hat explained that the flaw “allows a local attacker with a user account on the system to gain access to out-of-bounds memory, leading to a system crash or a privilege escalation threat.”
The Linux kernel Netfilter patch is now available. However, the patch isn’t available yet for all distribution releases.
Users who do not have access to the patch yet can use a workaround that involves mitigating the problem in the RHEL family with certain commands.
For more information, read the original story in ZDNet.