Vulnerabilities > CVE-2024-44951 - Improper Locking vulnerability in Linux Kernel
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: serial: sc16is7xx: fix TX fifo corruption Sometimes, when a packet is received on channel A at almost the same time as a packet is about to be transmitted on channel B, we observe with a logic analyzer that the received packet on channel A is transmitted on channel B. In other words, the Tx buffer data on channel B is corrupted with data from channel A. The problem appeared since commit 4409df5866b7 ("serial: sc16is7xx: change EFR lock to operate on each channels"), which changed the EFR locking to operate on each channel instead of chip-wise. This commit has introduced a regression, because the EFR lock is used not only to protect the EFR registers access, but also, in a very obscure and undocumented way, to protect access to the data buffer, which is shared by the Tx and Rx handlers, but also by each channel of the IC. Fix this regression first by switching to kfifo_out_linear_ptr() in sc16is7xx_handle_tx() to eliminate the need for a shared Rx/Tx buffer. Secondly, replace the chip-wise Rx buffer with a separate Rx buffer for each channel.
Vulnerable Configurations
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.