Dirty Pipe: CVE-2022-0847

In March 2022, a researcher named Max Kellerman publicly disclosed a Linux Kernel vulnerability (nicknamed "Dirty Pipe" for its similarities to the notorious "Dirty Cow (opens in new tab)" exploit affecting older versions of the kernel) that allowed attackers to arbitrarily overwrite files on the operating system. The vulnerability was responsibly disclosed in early 2022 and was publicly released in a blog post (opens in new tab) written by Max Kellerman soon after patches were made available.

Arbitrary file overwrites at the kernel level can be very easily leveraged to escalate privileges on the machine (i.e. to obtain administrator, or "root" privileges). This is a devastating vulnerability, made more so by its reach: any devices running a vulnerable version of the Linux kernel (including Android phones) are affected!

This room will provide an overview of the vulnerability, as well as give you an opportunity to exploit it for yourself in the vulnerable machine attached to this task. We will start by taking a look at the vulnerability and exploit at a high-level, before moving on to exploiting the vulnerability in subsequent sections of the room.