CVE-2019-11135: Medium severity openSUSE Leap vulnerability
A flaw was found in the implementation of Intel Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) abortion where a local authenticated attacker with the ability to monitor execution time is able to infer TSX memory state by comparing abort execution times.
This could allow information disclosure via this observed sidechannel for any TSX transaction being executed while an attacker is able to observe abort timing.
Other sources
A flaw was found in the way Intel CPUs handle speculative execution of instructions when the TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA) error occurs. A local authenticated attacker with the ability to monitor execution times could infer the TSX memory state by comparing abort execution times. This could allow information disclosure via this observed side-channel for any TSX transaction being executed while an attacker is able to observe abort timing. Intel's Transactional Synchronisation Extensions (TSX) are set of instructions which enable transactional memory support to improve performance of the multi-threaded applications, in the lock-protected critical sections. The CPU executes instructions in the critical-sections as transactions, while ensuring their atomic state. When such transaction execution is unsuccessful, the processor cannot ensure atomic updates to the transaction memory, so the processor rolls back or aborts such transaction execution. While TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA) is pending, CPU may continue to read data from architectural buffers and pass it to the dependent speculative operations. This may cause information leakage via speculative side-channel means, which is quite similar to the Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS) issue.
TSX Asynchronous Abort condition on some CPUs utilizing speculative execution may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable information disclosure via a side channel with local access.
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:2.6.32-754.24.2.el6 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:2.6.32-431.96.3.el6 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:2.6.32-504.81.3.el6 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernel-rtto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-1062.4.2.rt56.1028.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-1062.4.2.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/qemu-kvmto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 10:1.5.3-167.el7_7.4 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-327.82.2.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-514.70.2.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-693.60.2.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-862.43.2.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:3.10.0-957.38.2.el7 - Upgrade
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redhat/qemu-kvmto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 10:1.5.3-160.el7_6.5 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernel-rtto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.18.0-147.0.2.rt24.94.el8_1 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.18.0-147.0.2.el8_1 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernelto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.18.0-80.15.1.el8_0 - Upgrade
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redhat/kernel-rtto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 1:3.10.0-693.60.2.rt56.655.el6 - Upgrade
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redhat/redhat-virtualization-hostto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.2-20191107.0.el7_6 - Upgrade
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redhat/redhat-virtualization-hostto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 0:4.3.6-20191108.0.el7_7 - Upgrade
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redhat/qemu-kvm-rhevto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 10:2.12.0-18.el7_6.9 - Upgrade
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debian/intel-microcodeto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 3.20240813.1~deb11u1Fixed in 3.20250812.1~deb11u1Fixed in 3.20251111.1~deb12u1Fixed in 3.20250812.1~deb12u1Fixed in 3.20251111.1~deb13u1Fixed in 3.20250812.1~deb13u1Fixed in 3.20260227.1 - Upgrade
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debian/linuxto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 5.10.223-1Fixed in 5.10.259-1Fixed in 6.1.176-1Fixed in 6.1.177-1Fixed in 6.12.94-1Fixed in 6.12.96-1Fixed in 7.1.3-1Fixed in 7.1.4-1 - Upgrade
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debian/xento a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 4.14.6-1Fixed in 4.14.5+94-ge49571868d-1Fixed in 4.17.5+72-g01140da4e8-1Fixed in 4.20.2+37-g61ff35323e-0+deb13u1Fixed in 4.20.2+7-g1badcf5035-0+deb13u1Fixed in 4.20.2+37-g61ff35323e-1
Event History
Parent advisories
This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.
- RHSA-2020:0555
- RHSA-2019:3836
- RHSA-2019:3843
- RHSA-2019:3842
- RHSA-2019:3835
- RHSA-2019:3834
- RHSA-2020:0028
- RHSA-2020:0366
- RHSA-2019:3841
- RHSA-2019:3840
- RHSA-2019:3839
- RHSA-2019:3838
- RHSA-2019:3837
- RHSA-2020:0026
- RHSA-2020:0666
- RHSA-2020:0279
- RHSA-2019:3833
- RHSA-2019:3832
- RHSA-2019:3936
- RHSA-2020:0204
- RHSA-2019:3844
- RHSA-2019:3860
- RHSA-2020:0730
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the severity of CVE-2019-11135?
CVE-2019-11135 has a medium severity rating, classified as CVSS score 5.5.
How do I fix CVE-2019-11135?
To fix CVE-2019-11135, update your system to the patched versions of the affected kernel or microcode as specified in the vendor advisories.
Who is affected by CVE-2019-11135?
CVE-2019-11135 affects systems utilizing Intel processors with Transactional Synchronization Extensions (TSX) in various Linux distributions.
What kind of vulnerability is CVE-2019-11135?
CVE-2019-11135 is an information disclosure vulnerability that allows a local authenticated attacker to infer memory state through timing analysis.
Is CVE-2019-11135 related to a specific software version?
Yes, CVE-2019-11135 is associated with several kernel versions and Intel microcode updates across various Linux distributions.