CVE-2009-2768

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2009-08-14 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-476

Description

The load_flat_shared_library function in fs/binfmt_flat.c in the flat subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.31-rc6 allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by executing a shared flat binary, which triggers an access of an "uninitialized cred pointer."

Affected products

Linux kernel: before 2.6.31; 2.6.31-rc1, 2.6.31-rc2, 2.6.31-rc3, 2.6.31-rc4, 2.6.31-rc5 — fixed in 2.6.31

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 2.6.31. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=3440625d78711bee41a84cf29c3d8c579b522666
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/6/22/91
http://secunia.com/advisories/36278
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.hardware.blackfin.kernel.devel/1905
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.30.5
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/ChangeLog-2.6.31-rc6
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2011:051
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/08/13/1
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36037
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/52909
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=3440625d78711bee41a84cf29c3d8c579b522666
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/6/22/91

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