CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-10711 — A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Linux kernel's SELinux subsystem in versions before 5.7

Medium CVSS 5.9

A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the Linux kernel's SELinux subsystem in versions before 5.7. This flaw occurs while importing the Commercial IP Security Option (CIPSO) protocol's category bitmap into the SELinux extensible bitmap via the' ebitmap_netlbl_import' routine. While processing the CIPSO restricted bitmap tag in the 'cipso_v4_parsetag_rbm' routine, it sets the security attribute to indicate that the category bitmap is present, even if it has not been allocated. This issue leads to a NULL pointer dereference issue while importing the same category bitmap into SELinux. This flaw allows a remote network user to crash the system kernel, resulting in a denial of service.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.9 (3.1)
Published
2020-05-22
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-476

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel
  • redhat / 3scale / 2.0
  • redhat / openstack / 13
  • redhat / virtualization_host / 4.0
  • redhat / enterprise_linux / 6.0
  • redhat / enterprise_linux / 7.0

Showing 6 representative product identities from 20 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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