CVE-2009-3725

Severity: high (CVSS 7.2 v2.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: yes
Published: 2009-11-06 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-264

Description

The connector layer in the Linux kernel before 2.6.31.5 does not require the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability for certain interaction with the (1) uvesafb, (2) pohmelfs, (3) dst, or (4) dm subsystem, which allows local users to bypass intended access restrictions and gain privileges via calls to functions in these subsystems.

Affected products

Canonical Ubuntu Linux: 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10
Linux kernel: before 2.6.31.5 — fixed in 2.6.31.5

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 2.6.31.5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=125449888416314&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=oss-security&m=125715484511380&w=2
http://marc.info/?l=oss-security&m=125716192622235&w=2
http://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/51382/
http://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/51383/
http://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/51384/
http://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/51387/
http://secunia.com/advisories/37113
http://secunia.com/advisories/38905
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.31.5
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36834
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-864-1

Get alerted when CVE-2009-3725 or the next vulnerability affects your stack