CVE Catalog

CVE-2020-10781

MediumCVSS 5.5
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.31%

22th percentile - higher than 22% of all known CVEs

Summary

A flaw in the ZRAM kernel module of the Linux kernel before 5.8-rc6 allows a local user with read access to /sys/class/zram-control/hot_add to create ZRAM devices in /dev. This read allocates kernel memory not accounted for the user, and continuous reading can exhaust system memory, triggering the OOM killer and potentially making the system inoperable.

Risk Assessment

A local user can cause memory exhaustion, leading to termination of random processes and potential system instability.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to version 5.8-rc6 or later, which includes a fix. Restrict access to the hot_add file to trusted users only.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

A flaw was found in the Linux Kernel before 5.8-rc6 in the ZRAM kernel module, where a user with a local account and the ability to read the /sys/class/zram-control/hot_add file can create ZRAM device nodes in the /dev/ directory. This read allocates kernel memory and is not accounted for a user that triggers the creation of that ZRAM device. With this vulnerability, continually reading the device may consume a large amount of system memory and cause the Out-of-Memory (OOM) killer to activate and terminate random userspace processes, possibly making the system inoperable.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS