Vulnerabilities > CVE-2021-47041 - Improper Locking vulnerability in Linux Kernel

047910
CVSS 5.5 - MEDIUM
Attack vector
LOCAL
Attack complexity
LOW
Privileges required
LOW
Confidentiality impact
NONE
Integrity impact
NONE
Availability impact
HIGH
local
low complexity
linux
CWE-667

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet-tcp: fix incorrect locking in state_change sk callback We are not changing anything in the TCP connection state so we should not take a write_lock but rather a read lock. This caused a deadlock when running nvmet-tcp and nvme-tcp on the same system, where state_change callbacks on the host and on the controller side have causal relationship and made lockdep report on this with blktests: ================================ WARNING: inconsistent lock state 5.12.0-rc3 #1 Tainted: G I -------------------------------- inconsistent {IN-SOFTIRQ-W} -> {SOFTIRQ-ON-R} usage. nvme/1324 [HC0[0]:SC0[0]:HE1:SE1] takes: ffff888363151000 (clock-AF_INET){++-?}-{2:2}, at: nvme_tcp_state_change+0x21/0x150 [nvme_tcp] {IN-SOFTIRQ-W} state was registered at: __lock_acquire+0x79b/0x18d0 lock_acquire+0x1ca/0x480 _raw_write_lock_bh+0x39/0x80 nvmet_tcp_state_change+0x21/0x170 [nvmet_tcp] tcp_fin+0x2a8/0x780 tcp_data_queue+0xf94/0x1f20 tcp_rcv_established+0x6ba/0x1f00 tcp_v4_do_rcv+0x502/0x760 tcp_v4_rcv+0x257e/0x3430 ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x69/0x6a0 ip_local_deliver_finish+0x1e2/0x2f0 ip_local_deliver+0x1a2/0x420 ip_rcv+0x4fb/0x6b0 __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x162/0x1b0 process_backlog+0x1ff/0x770 __napi_poll.constprop.0+0xa9/0x5c0 net_rx_action+0x7b3/0xb30 __do_softirq+0x1f0/0x940 do_softirq+0xa1/0xd0 __local_bh_enable_ip+0xd8/0x100 ip_finish_output2+0x6b7/0x18a0 __ip_queue_xmit+0x706/0x1aa0 __tcp_transmit_skb+0x2068/0x2e20 tcp_write_xmit+0xc9e/0x2bb0 __tcp_push_pending_frames+0x92/0x310 inet_shutdown+0x158/0x300 __nvme_tcp_stop_queue+0x36/0x270 [nvme_tcp] nvme_tcp_stop_queue+0x87/0xb0 [nvme_tcp] nvme_tcp_teardown_admin_queue+0x69/0xe0 [nvme_tcp] nvme_do_delete_ctrl+0x100/0x10c [nvme_core] nvme_sysfs_delete.cold+0x8/0xd [nvme_core] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x2c7/0x460 new_sync_write+0x36c/0x610 vfs_write+0x5c0/0x870 ksys_write+0xf9/0x1d0 do_syscall_64+0x33/0x40 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae irq event stamp: 10687 hardirqs last enabled at (10687): [<ffffffff9ec376bd>] _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x2d/0x40 hardirqs last disabled at (10686): [<ffffffff9ec374d8>] _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x68/0x90 softirqs last enabled at (10684): [<ffffffff9f000608>] __do_softirq+0x608/0x940 softirqs last disabled at (10649): [<ffffffff9cdedd31>] do_softirq+0xa1/0xd0 other info that might help us debug this: Possible unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 ---- lock(clock-AF_INET); <Interrupt> lock(clock-AF_INET); *** DEADLOCK *** 5 locks held by nvme/1324: #0: ffff8884a01fe470 (sb_writers#4){.+.+}-{0:0}, at: ksys_write+0xf9/0x1d0 #1: ffff8886e435c090 (&of->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x216/0x460 #2: ffff888104d90c38 (kn->active#255){++++}-{0:0}, at: kernfs_remove_self+0x22d/0x330 #3: ffff8884634538d0 (&queue->queue_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: nvme_tcp_stop_queue+0x52/0xb0 [nvme_tcp] #4: ffff888363150d30 (sk_lock-AF_INET){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: inet_shutdown+0x59/0x300 stack backtrace: CPU: 26 PID: 1324 Comm: nvme Tainted: G I 5.12.0-rc3 #1 Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R640/06NR82, BIOS 2.10.0 11/12/2020 Call Trace: dump_stack+0x93/0xc2 mark_lock_irq.cold+0x2c/0xb3 ? verify_lock_unused+0x390/0x390 ? stack_trace_consume_entry+0x160/0x160 ? lock_downgrade+0x100/0x100 ? save_trace+0x88/0x5e0 ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x2d/0x40 mark_lock+0x530/0x1470 ? mark_lock_irq+0x1d10/0x1d10 ? enqueue_timer+0x660/0x660 mark_usage+0x215/0x2a0 __lock_acquire+0x79b/0x18d0 ? tcp_schedule_loss_probe.part.0+0x38c/0x520 lock_acquire+0x1ca/0x480 ? nvme_tcp_state_change+0x21/0x150 [nvme_tcp] ? rcu_read_unlock+0x40/0x40 ? tcp_mtu_probe+0x1ae0/0x1ae0 ? kmalloc_reserve+0xa0/0xa0 ? sysfs_file_ops+0x170/0x170 _raw_read_lock+0x3d/0xa0 ? nvme_tcp_state_change+0x21/0x150 [nvme_tcp] nvme_tcp_state_change+0x21/0x150 [nvme_tcp] ? sysfs_file_ops ---truncated---

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Linux
465

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

  • Leveraging Race Conditions
    This attack targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The attacker can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance a race condition can occur while accessing a file, the attacker can trick the system by replacing the original file with his version and cause the system to read the malicious file.
  • Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links
    This attack leverages the use of symbolic links (Symlinks) in order to write to sensitive files. An attacker can create a Symlink link to a target file not otherwise accessible to her. When the privileged program tries to create a temporary file with the same name as the Symlink link, it will actually write to the target file pointed to by the attackers' Symlink link. If the attacker can insert malicious content in the temporary file she will be writing to the sensitive file by using the Symlink. The race occurs because the system checks if the temporary file exists, then creates the file. The attacker would typically create the Symlink during the interval between the check and the creation of the temporary file.