Vulnerabilities > CVE-2024-44952 - 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: 2024-09-04
Updated: 2024-09-06

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: driver core: Fix uevent_show() vs driver detach race uevent_show() wants to de-reference dev->driver->name. There is no clean way for a device attribute to de-reference dev->driver unless that attribute is defined via (struct device_driver).dev_groups. Instead, the anti-pattern of taking the device_lock() in the attribute handler risks deadlocks with code paths that remove device attributes while holding the lock. This deadlock is typically invisible to lockdep given the device_lock() is marked lockdep_set_novalidate_class(), but some subsystems allocate a local lockdep key for @dev->mutex to reveal reports of the form: ====================================================== WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected 6.10.0-rc7+ #275 Tainted: G OE N ------------------------------------------------------ modprobe/2374 is trying to acquire lock: ffff8c2270070de0 (kn->active#6){++++}-{0:0}, at: __kernfs_remove+0xde/0x220 but task is already holding lock: ffff8c22016e88f8 (&cxl_root_key){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: device_release_driver_internal+0x39/0x210 which lock already depends on the new lock. the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is: -> #1 (&cxl_root_key){+.+.}-{3:3}: __mutex_lock+0x99/0xc30 uevent_show+0xac/0x130 dev_attr_show+0x18/0x40 sysfs_kf_seq_show+0xac/0xf0 seq_read_iter+0x110/0x450 vfs_read+0x25b/0x340 ksys_read+0x67/0xf0 do_syscall_64+0x75/0x190 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e -> #0 (kn->active#6){++++}-{0:0}: __lock_acquire+0x121a/0x1fa0 lock_acquire+0xd6/0x2e0 kernfs_drain+0x1e9/0x200 __kernfs_remove+0xde/0x220 kernfs_remove_by_name_ns+0x5e/0xa0 device_del+0x168/0x410 device_unregister+0x13/0x60 devres_release_all+0xb8/0x110 device_unbind_cleanup+0xe/0x70 device_release_driver_internal+0x1c7/0x210 driver_detach+0x47/0x90 bus_remove_driver+0x6c/0xf0 cxl_acpi_exit+0xc/0x11 [cxl_acpi] __do_sys_delete_module.isra.0+0x181/0x260 do_syscall_64+0x75/0x190 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e The observation though is that driver objects are typically much longer lived than device objects. It is reasonable to perform lockless de-reference of a @driver pointer even if it is racing detach from a device. Given the infrequency of driver unregistration, use synchronize_rcu() in module_remove_driver() to close any potential races. It is potentially overkill to suffer synchronize_rcu() just to handle the rare module removal racing uevent_show() event. Thanks to Tetsuo Handa for the debug analysis of the syzbot report [1].

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Linux
43

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