CVE-2004-2536

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 2.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2004-12-31 · updated 2026-06-16

Description

The exit_thread function (process.c) in Linux kernel 2.6 through 2.6.5 does not invalidate the per-TSS io_bitmap pointers if a process obtains IO access permissions from the ioperm function but does not drop those permissions when it exits, which allows other processes to access the per-TSS pointers, access restricted memory locations, and possibly gain privileges.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 2.6.0, 2.6.1, 2.6.1-rc1, 2.6.1-rc2, 2.6.2, 2.6.3 (+2)

References

http://secunia.com/advisories/11577
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.6
http://www.osvdb.org/5997
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10302
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0405.0/1242.html
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0405.0/1265.html
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/16106
http://secunia.com/advisories/11577
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.6
http://www.osvdb.org/5997
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/10302
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0405.0/1242.html

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