Vulnerabilities > CVE-2023-52587 - 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
NVD
Published: 2024-03-06
Updated: 2025-02-14

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: IB/ipoib: Fix mcast list locking Releasing the `priv->lock` while iterating the `priv->multicast_list` in `ipoib_mcast_join_task()` opens a window for `ipoib_mcast_dev_flush()` to remove the items while in the middle of iteration. If the mcast is removed while the lock was dropped, the for loop spins forever resulting in a hard lockup (as was reported on RHEL 4.18.0-372.75.1.el8_6 kernel): Task A (kworker/u72:2 below) | Task B (kworker/u72:0 below) -----------------------------------+----------------------------------- ipoib_mcast_join_task(work) | ipoib_ib_dev_flush_light(work) spin_lock_irq(&priv->lock) | __ipoib_ib_dev_flush(priv, ...) list_for_each_entry(mcast, | ipoib_mcast_dev_flush(dev = priv->dev) &priv->multicast_list, list) | ipoib_mcast_join(dev, mcast) | spin_unlock_irq(&priv->lock) | | spin_lock_irqsave(&priv->lock, flags) | list_for_each_entry_safe(mcast, tmcast, | &priv->multicast_list, list) | list_del(&mcast->list); | list_add_tail(&mcast->list, &remove_list) | spin_unlock_irqrestore(&priv->lock, flags) spin_lock_irq(&priv->lock) | | ipoib_mcast_remove_list(&remove_list) (Here, `mcast` is no longer on the | list_for_each_entry_safe(mcast, tmcast, `priv->multicast_list` and we keep | remove_list, list) spinning on the `remove_list` of | >>> wait_for_completion(&mcast->done) the other thread which is blocked | and the list is still valid on | it's stack.) Fix this by keeping the lock held and changing to GFP_ATOMIC to prevent eventual sleeps. Unfortunately we could not reproduce the lockup and confirm this fix but based on the code review I think this fix should address such lockups. crash> bc 31 PID: 747 TASK: ff1c6a1a007e8000 CPU: 31 COMMAND: "kworker/u72:2" -- [exception RIP: ipoib_mcast_join_task+0x1b1] RIP: ffffffffc0944ac1 RSP: ff646f199a8c7e00 RFLAGS: 00000002 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ff1c6a1a04dc82f8 RCX: 0000000000000000 work (&priv->mcast_task{,.work}) RDX: ff1c6a192d60ac68 RSI: 0000000000000286 RDI: ff1c6a1a04dc8000 &mcast->list RBP: ff646f199a8c7e90 R8: ff1c699980019420 R9: ff1c6a1920c9a000 R10: ff646f199a8c7e00 R11: ff1c6a191a7d9800 R12: ff1c6a192d60ac00 mcast R13: ff1c6a1d82200000 R14: ff1c6a1a04dc8000 R15: ff1c6a1a04dc82d8 dev priv (&priv->lock) &priv->multicast_list (aka head) ORIG_RAX: ffffffffffffffff CS: 0010 SS: 0018 --- <NMI exception stack> --- #5 [ff646f199a8c7e00] ipoib_mcast_join_task+0x1b1 at ffffffffc0944ac1 [ib_ipoib] #6 [ff646f199a8c7e98] process_one_work+0x1a7 at ffffffff9bf10967 crash> rx ff646f199a8c7e68 ff646f199a8c7e68: ff1c6a1a04dc82f8 <<< work = &priv->mcast_task.work crash> list -hO ipoib_dev_priv.multicast_list ff1c6a1a04dc8000 (empty) crash> ipoib_dev_priv.mcast_task.work.func,mcast_mutex.owner.counter ff1c6a1a04dc8000 mcast_task.work.func = 0xffffffffc0944910 <ipoib_mcast_join_task>, mcast_mutex.owner.counter = 0xff1c69998efec000 crash> b 8 PID: 8 TASK: ff1c69998efec000 CPU: 33 COMMAND: "kworker/u72:0" -- #3 [ff646f1980153d50] wait_for_completion+0x96 at ffffffff9c7d7646 #4 [ff646f1980153d90] ipoib_mcast_remove_list+0x56 at ffffffffc0944dc6 [ib_ipoib] #5 [ff646f1980153de8] ipoib_mcast_dev_flush+0x1a7 at ffffffffc09455a7 [ib_ipoib] #6 [ff646f1980153e58] __ipoib_ib_dev_flush+0x1a4 at ffffffffc09431a4 [ib_ipoib] #7 [ff ---truncated---

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Linux
5435

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.

References