Vulnerabilities > CVE-2024-50210 - 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: 2024-11-08
Updated: 2024-11-19

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-clock: posix-clock: Fix unbalanced locking in pc_clock_settime() If get_clock_desc() succeeds, it calls fget() for the clockid's fd, and get the clk->rwsem read lock, so the error path should release the lock to make the lock balance and fput the clockid's fd to make the refcount balance and release the fd related resource. However the below commit left the error path locked behind resulting in unbalanced locking. Check timespec64_valid_strict() before get_clock_desc() to fix it, because the "ts" is not changed after that. [[email protected]: fixed commit message typo]

Vulnerable Configurations

Part Description Count
OS
Linux
6

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