CME-1005
Runtime Memory Error Detection (KASAN/HWASan)
Description
Kernel AddressSanitizer (KASAN) and Hardware-assisted AddressSanitizer (HWASan) detect memory safety violations at runtime including use-after-free, out-of-bounds access, buffer size miscalculations, and NULL pointer dereferences. KASAN instruments kernel memory allocations with redzones and quarantine zones to detect invalid accesses. HWASan uses ARM Memory Tagging for lower-overhead production deployments. When a violation is detected, the kernel logs a detailed report and can be configured to panic, preventing silent exploitation.
CVSS Vector Impacts
| Metric | Transition | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Attack Complexity (AC) | L → H | Runtime detection of memory corruption forces exploit authors to either avoid instrumented allocation paths or accept detection; exploitation complexity increases significantly as corrupted memory triggers immediate detection rather than enabling controlled code execution. |
CWE Relationships
Verification
Check if KASAN is enabled in kernel config
$ grep CONFIG_KASAN=y /boot/config-$(uname -r)
# Expected: CONFIG_KASAN=y
# Expected: CONFIG_KASAN=y
Platform: linux