CVE-2009-3043

Linux Kernel < 2.6.31 - Denial of Service via Pseudo-Terminal I/O Activity

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 1 public exploit for CVE-2009-3043. PoCs published by Eric W. Biederman.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit targets a local denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel (CVE-2009-3043) by rapidly sending SIGINT signals to a pseudo-terminal process. It demonstrates the crash by leveraging a race condition in the kernel's terminal handling.

Description

The tty_ldisc_hangup function in drivers/char/tty_ldisc.c in the Linux kernel 2.6.31-rc before 2.6.31-rc8 allows local users to cause a denial of service (system crash, sometimes preceded by a NULL pointer dereference) or possibly gain privileges via certain pseudo-terminal I/O activity, as demonstrated by KernelTtyTest.c.

Exploits (1)

exploitdb WORKING POC VERIFIED
by Eric W. Biederman · cdoslinux
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/33193

This exploit targets a local denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel (CVE-2009-3043) by rapidly sending SIGINT signals to a pseudo-terminal process. It demonstrates the crash by leveraging a race condition in the kernel's terminal handling.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Dos
Complexity
Moderate
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Linux kernel versions 2.6.26 to 2.6.31-rc7
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Local access to the target system · Ability to execute code on the target
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (9)

Core 9
Core References
Exploit mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/8/20/21
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/09/03/6
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/09/03/7
Various Sources mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/8/20/68
Exploit, Patch vdb-entry x_refsource_bid
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36191
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2009/08/31/1
Exploit mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://lkml.org/lkml/2009/8/20/27

Scores

EPSS 0.0085
EPSS Percentile 53.3%

Details

CWE
CWE-399
Status published
Products (50)
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.0
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.1
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.2
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.3
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.4
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.5
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.6
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.7
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.8
linux/linux_kernel 2.6.8.1
... and 40 more
Published Sep 02, 2009
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026