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Fencer Vulns
medium 4.4

CVE-2009-1337 json

The exit_notify function in kernel/exit.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.30-rc1 does not restrict exit signals when the CAP_KILL capability…

published 2009-04-22 17 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2009-1335

cvss
4.4
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.3%
EPSS 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 69%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

The exit_notify function in kernel/exit.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.30-rc1 does not restrict exit signals when the CAP_KILL capability is held, which allows local users to send an arbitrary signal to a process by running a program that modifies the exit_signal field and then uses an exec system call to launch a setuid application.

Patch / fix

  • kernel RHEL 5 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
  • kernel-PAE RHEL 5 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
  • kernel-xen RHEL 5 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 5 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
  • kernel-debuginfo-common RHEL 5 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
  • kernel RHEL 4 2.6.9-89.EL
  • kernel-smp RHEL 4 2.6.9-89.EL
  • kernel-xenU RHEL 4 2.6.9-89.EL

red hat advisories RHSA-2009:0473RHSA-2009:1077RHSA-2009:1024RHSA-2009:1550RHSA-2009:0451

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2009-1337 updated cvss 6.9

kernel: exit_notify: kill the wrong capable(CAP_KILL) check

  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 5 Server kernel-rt 2.6.24.7-111.el5rt, kernel-rt-trace 2.6.24.7-111.el5rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 2.6.24.7-111.el5rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common 2.6.24.7-111.el5rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0451
  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 kernel 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-63.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1550
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) kernel 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0473
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS EUS (v. 4.7) kernel 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1077
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 kernel 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-63.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1550
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1024
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) kernel 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-128.1.10.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:0473
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1024
show 5 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES EUS (v. 4.7) kernel 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-78.0.24.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1077
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 kernel 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-63.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1550
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1024
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 kernel 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-63.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-63.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1550
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2009:1024

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-8369)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

1.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 69% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-8369 Linux Kernel < 2.6.29 - 'exit_notify()' Local Privilege Escalation local, 2009-04-08

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.4 AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-264 Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.