Crash a redhat 5.1 linux box

[amsdenz () AAVID COM (Zachary Amsden)]

Bug description:  the dumpreg utility included
with redhat 5.1 can cause kernel crashes.  The
reasons is that it opens /dev/mem with O_RDWR
access and blindly prints its output to fd 1.
This can be trivially exploited with a simple
program and run by any local user to corrupt
kernel memory.  Results may vary, but a crash
is pretty much inevitable given enough time.

A quick fix would be to remove setuid privs
from the dumpreg program, as this is not
needed for normal use.  Testing this exploit
on my system caused a fairly severe FS crash.

No script for you kiddies, guess you'll have
to learn how to program.

Don't flame me, I already reported it to Redhat

Zachary Amsden
amsden () andrew cmu edu