CVE-2019-19052

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2019-19052?

CVE-2019-19052 has a CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). This vulnerability is a memory leak in the Linux kernel's CAN-USB driver that allows attackers to cause denial of service by consuming all available memory. It affects Linux systems with CAN-USB hardware support before kernel version 5.3.11. Attackers can trigger this by causing USB URB submission failures.

7.5 HIGH

Denial of Service

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability is a memory leak in the Linux kernel's CAN-USB driver that allows attackers to cause denial of service by consuming all available memory. It affects Linux systems with CAN-USB hardware support before kernel version 5.3.11. Attackers can trigger this by causing USB URB submission failures.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Linux kernel

Versions: All versions before 5.3.11

Operating Systems: Linux distributions using affected kernel versions

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects systems with CAN-USB hardware support enabled in kernel configuration (CONFIG_CAN_GS_USB). Most desktop/workstation systems don't have this enabled by default.

📦 What is this software?

Linux Kernel by Linux

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⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete system unavailability due to memory exhaustion, requiring hard reboot and potential data loss.

🟠

Likely Case

Degraded system performance leading to service disruption, particularly affecting systems using CAN-USB interfaces.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact if systems are patched or don't use CAN-USB functionality.

🌐 Internet-Facing: LOW - Requires local access or USB device interaction.

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Internal attackers with physical or logical access to USB ports could exploit this.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: UNKNOWN

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: MEDIUM

Exploitation requires ability to trigger USB URB submission failures, typically requiring physical USB device access or driver manipulation.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 5.3.11 and later

Vendor Advisory: https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.3.11

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Update kernel to version 5.3.11 or later. 2. For distributions: Use package manager (apt-get upgrade linux-image, yum update kernel, etc.). 3. Reboot system to load new kernel.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable CAN-USB driver

linux

Remove or blacklist the gs_usb kernel module to prevent loading

echo 'blacklist gs_usb' > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-gs_usb.conf
rmmod gs_usb

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Disable CAN-USB hardware support in kernel configuration
Restrict physical access to USB ports and monitor for suspicious USB device connections

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check kernel version: uname -r. If version is <5.3.11 and gs_usb module is loaded (lsmod | grep gs_usb), system is vulnerable.

Check Version:

uname -r

Verify Fix Applied:

After patching, verify kernel version is ≥5.3.11 with uname -r and check that memory consumption doesn't spike during CAN-USB operations.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Kernel logs showing memory allocation failures (dmesg | grep -i 'out of memory')
System logs showing high memory usage patterns

Network Indicators:

Unusual CAN bus traffic patterns if network monitoring is available

SIEM Query:

source="kernel" AND ("out of memory" OR "gs_usb" OR "memory leak")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2019-19052

CVSS v3 Score: 7.5 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWE: CWE-401

Published: November 18, 2019

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-12/msg00029.html Third Party Advisory
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.3.11 Release Notes,Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/fb5be6a7b4863ecc44963bb80ca614584b6c7817 Patch,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00013.html Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/03/msg00001.html Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191205-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4225-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4225-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4226-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4227-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4227-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4228-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4228-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-12/msg00029.html Third Party Advisory
https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.3.11 Release Notes,Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/fb5be6a7b4863ecc44963bb80ca614584b6c7817 Patch,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00013.html Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/03/msg00001.html Mailing List,Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191205-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4225-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4225-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4226-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4227-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4227-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4228-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4228-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuApr2021.html Third Party Advisory

📋 TL;DR

💻 Affected Systems

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⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

Worst Case

Likely Case

If Mitigated

🎯 Exploit Status

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Instructions:

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable CAN-USB driver

🧯 If You Can't Patch

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Version:

Verify Fix Applied:

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Network Indicators:

SIEM Query:

📊 Metadata

🔗 References

📤 Share & Export

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