high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2021-47505·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: aio: fix use-after-free due to missing POLLFREE handling signalfd_poll() and binder_poll() are special in that they use a waitqueue whose lifetime is the current task, rather than the struct file as is normally the case. This is okay for blocking polls, since a blocking poll occurs within one task; however, non-blocking polls require another solution. This solution is for the queue to be cleared before it is freed, by sending a POLLFREE notification to all waiters. Unfortunately, only eventpoll handles POLLFREE. A second type of non-blocking poll, aio poll, was added in kernel v4.18, and it doesn't handle POLLFREE. This allows a use-after-free to occur if a signalfd or binder fd is polled with aio poll, and the waitqueue gets freed. Fix this by making aio poll handle POLLFREE. A patch by Ramji Jiyani <ramjiyani@google.com> (https://lore.kernel.org/r/20211027011834.2497484-1-ramjiyani@google.com) tried to do this by making aio_poll_wake() always complete the request inline if POLLFREE is seen. However, that solution had two bugs. First, it introduced a deadlock, as it unconditionally locked the aio context while holding the waitqueue lock, which inverts the normal locking order. Second, it didn't consider that POLLFREE notifications are missed while the request has been temporarily de-queued. The second problem was solved by my previous patch. This patch then properly fixes the use-after-free by handling POLLFREE in a deadlock-free way. It does this by taking advantage of the fact that freeing of the waitqueue is RCU-delayed, similar to what eventpoll does.

Severity: high
Software: Kernel
Fixed in: 5.15.8
Published: 2024-05-24

Affected versions

From: 5.11

Until: 5.15.8

Fixed in: 5.15.8

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 5.15.8 or later to resolve this use-after-free vulnerability in the asynchronous I/O (aio) subsystem. The vulnerability affects kernel versions 5.11 through 5.15.7 when polling signalfd or binder file descriptors using aio poll operations. Apply the kernel update through your distribution's package manager and reboot the system to activate the patched kernel.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel && sudo reboot

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

Step 1: Check current kernel version with `uname -r` and compare against 5.11-5.15.7 range
Step 2: Verify if aio functionality is in use by checking for aio-related syscalls in application logs or by running `strace -e trace=io_* <process_name>`
Step 3: Search system logs for kernel panic or oops messages related to aio_poll operations using `sudo grep -i 'aio_poll\|use-after-free' /var/log/kern.log* /var/log/messages* 2>/dev/null`
Step 4: After patching, confirm kernel version with `uname -r` shows 5.15.8 or higher

FAQ

What is CVE-2021-47505?

CVE-2021-47505 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's aio poll handler that occurs when asynchronous I/O polls are used on special file descriptors (signalfd or binder) whose waitqueues have limited lifetimes. The vulnerability arises because aio poll does not properly handle POLLFREE notifications that signal waitqueue destruction, leading to potential memory corruption.

Is CVE-2021-47505 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2021-47505 is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are currently available. However, it remains a high-severity memory safety issue that should be patched promptly.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2021-47505?

Linux kernel versions from 5.11 through 5.15.7 are vulnerable. The fix was released in kernel 5.15.8.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2021-47505?

Run `uname -r` to display your kernel version. If the output shows a version between 5.11 and 5.15.7 (inclusive), your system is vulnerable and requires an immediate kernel update.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2021-47505?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If Kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2021-47505 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

CVE-2024-42256CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cifs: Fix server re-repick on subrequest retry When a subrequest is marked for needing retry, netfs will call cifs_prepare_write() which will make cifs repick the server for the op before renegotiating credits; it then calls cifs_issue_write() which invokes smb2_async_writev() - which re-repicks the server. If a different server is then selected, this causes the increment of server->in_flight to happen against one record and the decrement to happen against another, leading to misaccounting. Fix this by just removing the repick code in smb2_async_writev(). As this is only called from netfslib-driven code, cifs_prepare_write() should always have been called first, and so server should never be NULL and the preparatory step is repeated in the event that we do a retry. The problem manifests as a warning looking something like: WARNING: CPU: 4 PID: 72896 at fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c:97 smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... RIP: 0010:smb2_add_credits+0x3f0/0x9e0 [cifs] ... smb2_writev_callback+0x334/0x560 [cifs] cifs_demultiplex_thread+0x77a/0x11b0 [cifs] kthread+0x187/0x1d0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Which may be triggered by a number of different xfstests running against an Azure server in multichannel mode. generic/249 seems the most repeatable, but generic/215, generic/249 and generic/308 may also show it.

CVE-2024-39462CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: clk: bcm: dvp: Assign ->num before accessing ->hws Commit f316cdff8d67 ("clk: Annotate struct clk_hw_onecell_data with __counted_by") annotated the hws member of 'struct clk_hw_onecell_data' with __counted_by, which informs the bounds sanitizer about the number of elements in hws, so that it can warn when hws is accessed out of bounds. As noted in that change, the __counted_by member must be initialized with the number of elements before the first array access happens, otherwise there will be a warning from each access prior to the initialization because the number of elements is zero. This occurs in clk_dvp_probe() due to ->num being assigned after ->hws has been accessed: UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in drivers/clk/bcm/clk-bcm2711-dvp.c:59:2 index 0 is out of range for type 'struct clk_hw *[] __counted_by(num)' (aka 'struct clk_hw *[]') Move the ->num initialization to before the first access of ->hws, which clears up the warning.

CVE-2024-38623CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/ntfs3: Use variable length array instead of fixed size Should fix smatch warning: ntfs_set_label() error: __builtin_memcpy() 'uni->name' too small (20 vs 256)

CVE-2024-38612CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: fix invalid unregister error path The error path of seg6_init() is wrong in case CONFIG_IPV6_SEG6_LWTUNNEL is not defined. In that case if seg6_hmac_init() fails, the genl_unregister_family() isn't called. This issue exist since commit 46738b1317e1 ("ipv6: sr: add option to control lwtunnel support"), and commit 5559cea2d5aa ("ipv6: sr: fix possible use-after-free and null-ptr-deref") replaced unregister_pernet_subsys() with genl_unregister_family() in this error path.

CVE-2021-47548CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ethernet: hisilicon: hns: hns_dsaf_misc: fix a possible array overflow in hns_dsaf_ge_srst_by_port() The if statement: if (port >= DSAF_GE_NUM) return; limits the value of port less than DSAF_GE_NUM (i.e., 8). However, if the value of port is 6 or 7, an array overflow could occur: port_rst_off = dsaf_dev->mac_cb[port]->port_rst_off; because the length of dsaf_dev->mac_cb is DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM (i.e., 6). To fix this possible array overflow, we first check port and if it is greater than or equal to DSAF_MAX_PORT_NUM, the function returns.

References

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