procps-ng before version 3.3.15 is vulnerable to multiple integer overflows leading to a heap corruption in file2strvec function. This allows a privilege escalation for a local attacker who can create entries in procfs by starting processes, which could result in crashes or arbitrary code execution in proc utilities run by other users.
A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc().
The product performs a calculation that can produce an integer overflow or wraparound when the logic assumes that the resulting value will always be larger than the original value. This occurs when an integer value is incremented to a value that is too large to store in the associated representation. When this occurs, the value may become a very small or negative number.