CVE-2025-37814 — tty: Require CAP_SYS_ADMIN for all usages of TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT

Affected: Linux

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tty: Require CAP_SYS_ADMIN for all usages of TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT

This requirement was overeagerly loosened in commit 2f83e38a095f ("tty: Permit some TIOCL_SETSEL modes without CAP_SYS_ADMIN"), but as it turns out,

(1) the logic I implemented there was inconsistent (apologies!),

(2) TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT might actually be a small security risk after all, and

(3) TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT is only meant to be used by the mouse daemon (GPM or Consolation), which runs as CAP_SYS_ADMIN already.

In more detail:

1. The previous patch has inconsistent logic:

In commit 2f83e38a095f ("tty: Permit some TIOCL_SETSEL modes without CAP_SYS_ADMIN"), we checked for sel_mode == TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT, but overlooked that the lower four bits of this "mode" parameter were actually used as an additional way to pass an argument. So the patch did actually still require CAP_SYS_ADMIN, if any of the mouse button bits are set, but did not require it if none of the mouse buttons bits are set.

This logic is inconsistent and was not intentional. We should have the same policies for using TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT independent of the value of the "hidden" mouse button argument.

I sent a separate documentation patch to the man page list with more details on TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20250223091342.35523-2-gnoack3000@gmail.com/

2. TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT is…

USN-7594-1 — linux, linux-gcp, linux-raspi, linux-realtime vulnerabilities

Affected: Ubuntu:25.04: linux, Ubuntu:25.04: linux-gcp, Ubuntu:25.04: linux-raspi, Ubuntu:25.04: linux-realtime

Several security issues were discovered in the Linux kernel. An attacker could possibly use these to compromise the system. This update corrects flaws in the following subsystems: - ARM32 architecture; - ARM64 architecture; - PowerPC architecture; - RISC-V architecture; - User-Mode Linux (UML); - x86 architecture; - Block layer subsystem; - Cryptographic API; - Compute Acceleration Framework; - ACPI drivers; - Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers; - Drivers core; - Ublk userspace block driver; - Bluetooth drivers; - Bus devices; - TPM device driver; - Clock framework and drivers; - CPU frequency scaling framework; - Buffer Sharing and Synchronization framework; - DMA engine subsystem; - GPU drivers; - HID subsystem; - HSI subsystem; - I2C subsystem; - I3C subsystem; - IIO subsystem; - InfiniBand drivers; - IOMMU subsystem; - IRQ chip drivers; - MCB driver; - Multiple devices driver; - Media drivers; - MemoryStick subsystem; - Multifunction device drivers; - Microchip PCI driver; - Intel Management Engine Interface driver; - PCI Endpoint Test driver; - MTD block device drivers; - Network drivers; - Ethernet bonding driver; - Mellanox network drivers; - STMicroelectronics network drivers; - NTB driver; - NVME drivers; - PCI subsystem; - Synopsys DesignWare PCIe PMU; - Mellanox platform drivers; - PWM drivers; - Remote Processor subsystem; - S/390 drivers; - SCSI subsystem; -…

Most recent entries from all

CVE-2025-37814 — tty: Require CAP_SYS_ADMIN for all usages of TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT

USN-7594-1 — linux, linux-gcp, linux-raspi, linux-realtime vulnerabilities