Linux Users Face Risk From Kernel Vulnerability

“The Linux kernel has potentially been at risk from a flaw that
has been present in Linux since 2003, according to a new finding
from security researcher Invisible Things Lab. And while the flaw
has now been patched in the mainline Linux kernel, it’s not clear
yet if all Linux distros have implemented the patch — potentially
leaving them open to exploitation by attackers.

“Security researcher Rafal Wojtczuk from Invisible Things Lab
detailed the kernel flaw in a report (PDF format) released
officially this week, although Linux developers and distros have
been aware of the issue since at least June.

“”A malicious authenticated client can force Xorg server to
exhaust (or fragment) its address space,” Wojtczuk wrote. “If
running on Linux, this may result in the process stack top being in
an unexpected region and execution of arbitrary code with server
privileges (root).”

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