CVE-2010-2946

Severity: low (CVSS 2.1 v2.0)
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: 2010-09-29 · updated 2026-06-16
Weakness: CWE-20

Description

fs/jfs/xattr.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.35.2 does not properly handle a certain legacy format for storage of extended attributes, which might allow local users by bypass intended xattr namespace restrictions via an "os2." substring at the beginning of a name.

Affected products

Canonical Ubuntu Linux: 6.06, 8.04, 9.04, 9.10, 10.04, 10.10
Linux kernel: before 2.6.35.2 — fixed in 2.6.35.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 2.6.35.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=aca0fa34bdaba39bfddddba8ca70dba4782e8fe6
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-09/msg00004.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-11/msg00000.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-12/msg00004.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-02/msg00000.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-02/msg00002.html
http://secunia.com/advisories/41321
http://secunia.com/advisories/43291
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/ChangeLog-2.4.37.10
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.27.51
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.35.2
http://www.mandriva.com/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2011:051

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