high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2023-52531·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: iwlwifi: mvm: Fix a memory corruption issue A few lines above, space is kzalloc()'ed for: sizeof(struct iwl_nvm_data) + sizeof(struct ieee80211_channel) + sizeof(struct ieee80211_rate) 'mvm->nvm_data' is a 'struct iwl_nvm_data', so it is fine. At the end of this structure, there is the 'channels' flex array. Each element is of type 'struct ieee80211_channel'. So only 1 element is allocated in this array. When doing: mvm->nvm_data->bands[0].channels = mvm->nvm_data->channels; We point at the first element of the 'channels' flex array. So this is fine. However, when doing: mvm->nvm_data->bands[0].bitrates = (void *)((u8 *)mvm->nvm_data->channels + 1); because of the "(u8 *)" cast, we add only 1 to the address of the beginning of the flex array. It is likely that we want point at the 'struct ieee80211_rate' allocated just after. Remove the spurious casting so that the pointer arithmetic works as expected.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.5.7
Published
2024-03-02

Affected versions

From: 6.2

Until: 6.5.7

Fixed in: 6.5.7

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.5.7 or later to resolve a memory corruption vulnerability in the iwlwifi driver's network virtual machine module. This issue affects pointer arithmetic in the wireless NVM data structure initialization and requires a kernel update followed by a system reboot.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel && sudo reboot

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check your current kernel version: uname -r
  2. Verify if iwlwifi module is loaded: lsmod | grep iwlwifi (if output is empty, the vulnerable component is not active)
  3. Review kernel logs for memory corruption errors: sudo dmesg | grep -i 'memory\|corruption\|iwlwifi' or sudo journalctl -b | grep -i 'memory\|corruption\|iwlwifi'
  4. After patching, confirm the new kernel version is running: uname -r (should be 6.5.7 or higher)

FAQ

What is CVE-2023-52531?

CVE-2023-52531 is a memory corruption vulnerability in the Linux kernel's iwlwifi wireless driver module. Incorrect pointer arithmetic when initializing network virtual machine data structures can cause memory to be written to unintended locations in the allocated buffer.

Is CVE-2023-52531 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are available as of the latest advisory.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2023-52531?

Linux kernel versions 6.2 through 6.5.6 are affected. Kernel 6.5.7 and later contain the fix.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2023-52531?

Run 'uname -r' to check your kernel version. If the output is between 6.2 and 6.5.6 and iwlwifi is loaded (verify with 'lsmod | grep iwlwifi'), your system is vulnerable.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2023-52531?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If the Linux kernel package is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2023-52531 will appear in your dashboard with remediation steps.

Related Kernel CVEs

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CVE-2024-36031CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Fix overwrite of key expiration on instantiation The expiry time of a key is unconditionally overwritten during instantiation, defaulting to turn it permanent. This causes a problem for DNS resolution as the expiration set by user-space is overwritten to TIME64_MAX, disabling further DNS updates. Fix this by restoring the condition that key_set_expiry is only called when the pre-parser sets a specific expiry.
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-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-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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