leviathan
cb39cc5119
The iconic 2016 LPE. Fills the 10-year coverage gap (now spanning
2016 → 2026): RHEL 6/7, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, embedded boxes,
IoT — many still in production with kernels predating the 4.9 fix.
- modules/dirty_cow_cve_2016_5195/iamroot_modules.{c,h}:
- kernel_range: backport thresholds for 2.6 / 3.2 / 3.10 / 3.12 /
3.16 / 3.18 / 4.4 / 4.7 / 4.8 / mainline 4.9
- dirty_cow_write(): Phil-Oester-style two-thread race
- mmap /etc/passwd MAP_PRIVATE (writes go COW)
- writer thread: pwrite to /proc/self/mem at COW page offset
- madviser thread: madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) to drop COW copy
- poll-read /etc/passwd via separate fd to check if payload landed
- 3-second timeout (race usually wins in ms on vulnerable kernels)
- dirty_cow_exploit(): getpwuid → find_passwd_uid_field → race
→ execlp(su)
- dirty_cow_cleanup(): POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED + drop_caches
- Auditd rule: /proc/self/mem writes + madvise MADV_DONTNEED
- Sigma rule: non-root /proc/self/mem open → high
- Makefile: -lpthread added to LDFLAGS for the binary link.
- iamroot.c + core/registry.h wired.
- CVES.md row added with detailed status; legend updated.
Verified end-to-end on kctf-mgr (6.12.86 — patched):
iamroot --scan → 'dirty_cow: kernel is patched' (OK)
iamroot --exploit dirty_cow --i-know
→ 'detect() says not vulnerable; refusing'
Module count = 12.
7.6 KiB
7.6 KiB
CVE inventory
The curated list of CVEs IAMROOT exploits, with patch status and module status. Updated as new modules land or as upstream patches ship.
Status legend:
- 🟢 WORKING — module verified to land root on a vulnerable host
- 🟡 PARTIAL — module detects + exploits on some distros, not all
- 🔵 DETECT-ONLY — module fingerprints presence/absence but no exploit (yet). Useful for blue teams.
- ⚪ PLANNED — stub exists, work not started
- 🔴 DEPRECATED — fully patched everywhere relevant; kept for historical reference only
Inventory
| CVE | Name | Class | First patched | IAMROOT module | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2026-31431 | Copy Fail (algif_aead authencesn page-cache write) |
LPE (page-cache write → /etc/passwd) | mainline 2026-04-22 | copy_fail |
🟢 | Verified on Ubuntu 26.04, Alma 9, Debian 13. Full AppArmor bypass. |
| CVE-2026-43284 (v4) | Dirty Frag — IPv4 xfrm-ESP page-cache write | LPE (same primitive shape as Copy Fail, different trigger) | mainline 2026-05-XX | dirty_frag_esp |
🟢 | Full PoC + active-probe scan |
| CVE-2026-43284 (v6) | Dirty Frag — IPv6 xfrm-ESP (esp6) |
LPE | mainline 2026-05-XX | dirty_frag_esp6 |
🟢 | V6 STORE shift auto-calibrated per kernel build |
| CVE-2026-43500 | Dirty Frag — RxRPC page-cache write | LPE | mainline 2026-05-XX | dirty_frag_rxrpc |
🟢 | |
| (variant, no CVE) | Copy Fail GCM variant — xfrm-ESP rfc4106(gcm(aes)) page-cache write |
LPE | n/a | copy_fail_gcm |
🟢 | Sibling primitive, same fix |
| CVE-2022-0847 | Dirty Pipe — pipe PIPE_BUF_FLAG_CAN_MERGE write |
LPE (arbitrary file write into page cache) | mainline 5.17 (2022-02-23) | dirty_pipe |
🟢 | Full detect + exploit + cleanup. Detect: branch-backport ranges + active sentinel probe (--active fires the primitive against a /tmp probe file and verifies the page cache poisoning lands — catches silent distro backports the version check misses). Exploit: page-cache write into /etc/passwd UID field followed by su to drop a root shell. Auto-refuses on patched kernels. Cleanup: drop_caches + POSIX_FADV_DONTNEED. |
| CVE-2023-0458 | EntryBleed — KPTI prefetchnta KASLR bypass | INFO-LEAK (kbase) | mainline (partial mitigations only) | entrybleed |
🟢 | Stage-1 leak brick. Working on lts-6.12.86 (verified 2026-05-16 via iamroot --exploit entrybleed --i-know). Default entry_SYSCALL_64 slot offset matches lts-6.12.x; override via IAMROOT_ENTRYBLEED_OFFSET=0x.... Other modules can call entrybleed_leak_kbase_lib() as a library. x86_64 only. |
| CVE-2026-31402 | NFS replay-cache heap overflow | LPE (NFS server) | mainline 2026-04-03 | — | ⚪ | Candidate. Different audience (NFS servers) — TBD whether in-scope. |
| CVE-2021-4034 | Pwnkit — pkexec argv[0]=NULL → env-injection | LPE (userspace setuid binary) | polkit 0.121 (2022-01-25) | pwnkit |
🟢 | Full detect + exploit (canonical Qualys-style: gconv-modules + execve NULL-argv). Detect handles both polkit version formats (legacy "0.105" + modern "126"). Exploit compiles payload via target's gcc → falls back gracefully if no cc available. Cleanup nukes /tmp/iamroot-pwnkit-* workdirs. First userspace LPE in IAMROOT. Ships auditd + sigma rules. |
| CVE-2024-1086 | nf_tables — nft_verdict_init cross-cache UAF |
LPE (kernel arbitrary R/W via slab UAF) | mainline 6.8-rc1 (Jan 2024) | nf_tables |
🔵 | Detect-only. Branch-backport ranges checked (6.7.2 / 6.6.13 / 6.1.74 / 5.15.149 / 5.10.210 / 5.4.269). Also checks unprivileged user_ns clone availability (the exploit's trigger gate) — reports PRECOND_FAIL if userns is locked down even when the kernel is vulnerable. Full Notselwyn-style exploit is the next nf_tables commit. |
| CVE-2021-3493 | Ubuntu overlayfs userns file-capability injection | LPE (host root via file caps in userns-mounted overlayfs) | Ubuntu USN-4915-1 (Apr 2021) | overlayfs |
🔵 | Detect-only. Ubuntu-specific (vanilla upstream didn't enable userns-overlayfs-mount until 5.11). Detect: parses /etc/os-release for ID=ubuntu, checks unprivileged_userns_clone sysctl, AND with --active actually attempts the userns+overlayfs mount as a fork-isolated probe. Reports OK on non-Ubuntu, PRECOND_FAIL if userns locked down. Ships auditd rules covering mount(overlay) + setxattr(security.capability). |
| CVE-2022-2588 | net/sched cls_route4 handle-zero dead UAF | LPE (kernel UAF in cls_route4 filter remove) | mainline 5.20 / 5.19.7 (Aug 2022) | cls_route4 |
🔵 | Detect-only. Branch-backport thresholds: 5.4.213 / 5.10.143 / 5.15.69 / 5.18.18 / 5.19.7. Bug exists since 2.6.39 — very wide surface. Detect also probes user_ns+net_ns clone availability; locked-down hosts report PRECOND_FAIL. Full exploit (kylebot-style: tc filter add+rm + spray + cred overwrite) follows. |
| CVE-2016-5195 | Dirty COW — COW race via /proc/self/mem + madvise | LPE (page-cache write into root-owned files) | mainline 4.9 (Oct 2016) | dirty_cow |
🟢 | Full detect + exploit + cleanup. Old-systems coverage — affects RHEL 6/7 (3.10 baseline), Ubuntu 14.04 (3.13), Ubuntu 16.04 (4.4), embedded boxes, IoT. Phil-Oester-style two-thread race: writer thread via /proc/self/mem vs madvise(MADV_DONTNEED) thread. Targets /etc/passwd UID flip + su. Ships auditd watch on /proc/self/mem + sigma rule for non-root mem-open. Pthread-linked. |
| CVE-TBD | Fragnesia (ESP shared-frag in-place encrypt) | LPE (page-cache write) | mainline TBD | _stubs/fragnesia_TBD |
⚪ | Stub. Per findings/audit_leak_write_modprobe_backups_2026-05-16.md, requires CAP_NET_ADMIN in userns netns — may or may not be in-scope depending on target environment. |
Operations supported per module
Symbols: ✓ = supported, — = not applicable / no automated path.
| Module | --scan (detect) | --exploit | --mitigate | --cleanup | --detect-rules |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| copy_fail | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (blacklist algif_aead + AA sysctl) | ✓ (revert mit or evict page cache) | ✓ (auditd + sigma) |
| copy_fail_gcm | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (same family-wide) | ✓ | ✓ |
| dirty_frag_esp | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (same family-wide) | ✓ | ✓ |
| dirty_frag_esp6 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (same family-wide) | ✓ | ✓ |
| dirty_frag_rxrpc | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ (same family-wide) | ✓ | ✓ |
| dirty_pipe | ✓ | ✓ | — (only fix is upgrade kernel) | ✓ (evict page cache) | ✓ (auditd + sigma) |
| entrybleed | ✓ | ✓ (leak kbase) | — (no canonical patch) | — | ✓ (sigma informational) |
Pipeline for additions
- Bug must be patched in upstream mainline (we don't bundle 0-days)
- Either CVE-assigned or has clear advisory/patch reference
- Affects a kernel version range with realistic deployment footprint (we don't bundle exploits for kernels nobody runs)
- PoC works on at least one distro+kernel in our CI matrix
- Detection signature(s) shipped alongside the exploit
Patch-status tracking
Each module's kernel-range.json (planned) declares the affected
range. CI verifies the exploit fails on the first-patched version
and succeeds below it. When a distro backports the fix into a kernel
version below the original first-patched, the matrix updates and
the relevant distro drops out of the "WORKING" list for that module.
Why we exclude some things
- 0-days the maintainer found themselves: those go through responsible disclosure first, then enter IAMROOT after upstream patch
- kCTF VRP submissions in flight: same as above; disclosure before bundling
- Hardware-specific side channels (Spectre/Meltdown variants): out of scope; not page-cache or process-isolation primitives
- Container-escape only: unless it cleanly chains to host-root, out of scope (separate tool space)