Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2010-2955

The cfg80211_wext_giwessid function in net/wireless/wext-compat.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.36-rc3-next-20100831 does not properly initialize certain structure members, which allows local users to leverage an off-by-one error in the ioctl_standard_iw_point function in net/wireless/wext-core.c, and obtain potentially sensitive information from kernel heap memory, via vectors involving an SIOCGIWESSID ioctl call that specifies a large buffer size.

Security Impact Summary

CVE-2010-2955 is a security vulnerability that . Impacting 6 products from linux, from opensuse, from suse and 3 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Documented in 2010, this vulnerability occurred amid the cloud computing expansion era, where traditional network perimeter security models were being reevaluated. Organizations were transitioning from isolated infrastructure to interconnected systems, creating new attack surfaces that vulnerabilities like this could exploit.

Published

2010-09-08T20:00:03.417

Last Modified

2025-04-11T00:51:21.963

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv2: 2.1 (LOW)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: NONE

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-193

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Operating System	linux	linux_kernel	< 2.6.36	Yes
Operating System	linux	linux_kernel	2.6.36	Yes
Operating System	linux	linux_kernel	2.6.36	Yes
Operating System	linux	linux_kernel	2.6.36	Yes
Operating System	opensuse	opensuse	11.1	Yes
Operating System	suse	linux_enterprise_desktop	11	Yes
Operating System	suse	linux_enterprise_real_time_extension	11	Yes
Operating System	suse	linux_enterprise_server	11	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	6.06	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	8.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	9.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	9.10	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	10.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	10.10	Yes

References

http://forums.grsecurity.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2290 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=42da2f948d949efd0111309f5827bf0298bcc9a4 ([email protected])
http://grsecurity.net/~spender/wireless-infoleak-fix2.patch Broken Link ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-11/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-02/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/27/413 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/127 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/146 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/351 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://secunia.com/advisories/41245 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/next/patch-v2.6.36-rc3-next-20100831.bz2 Broken Link ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/08/31/1 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0771.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0842.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/42885 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1000-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0298 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=628434 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://forums.grsecurity.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2290 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=42da2f948d949efd0111309f5827bf0298bcc9a4 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://grsecurity.net/~spender/wireless-infoleak-fix2.patch Broken Link (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-11/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-02/msg00000.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/27/413 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/127 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/146 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/351 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://secunia.com/advisories/41245 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/next/patch-v2.6.36-rc3-next-20100831.bz2 Broken Link (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/08/31/1 Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0771.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2010-0842.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/42885 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1000-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0298 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=628434 Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For linux's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.