high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-26983·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bootconfig: use memblock_free_late to free xbc memory to buddy On the time to free xbc memory in xbc_exit(), memblock may has handed over memory to buddy allocator. So it doesn't make sense to free memory back to memblock. memblock_free() called by xbc_exit() even causes UAF bugs on architectures with CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK disabled like x86. Following KASAN logs shows this case. This patch fixes the xbc memory free problem by calling memblock_free() in early xbc init error rewind path and calling memblock_free_late() in xbc exit path to free memory to buddy allocator. [ 9.410890] ================================================================== [ 9.418962] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.426850] Read of size 8 at addr ffff88845dd30000 by task swapper/0/1 [ 9.435901] CPU: 9 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G U 6.9.0-rc3-00208-g586b5dfb51b9 #5 [ 9.446403] Hardware name: Intel Corporation RPLP LP5 (CPU:RaptorLake)/RPLP LP5 (ID:13), BIOS IRPPN02.01.01.00.00.19.015.D-00000000 Dec 28 2023 [ 9.460789] Call Trace: [ 9.463518] <TASK> [ 9.465859] dump_stack_lvl+0x53/0x70 [ 9.469949] print_report+0xce/0x610 [ 9.473944] ? __virt_addr_valid+0xf5/0x1b0 [ 9.478619] ? memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.483877] kasan_report+0xc6/0x100 [ 9.487870] ? memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.493125] memblock_isolate_range+0x12d/0x260 [ 9.498187] memblock_phys_free+0xb4/0x160 [ 9.502762] ? __pfx_memblock_phys_free+0x10/0x10 [ 9.508021] ? mutex_unlock+0x7e/0xd0 [ 9.512111] ? __pfx_mutex_unlock+0x10/0x10 [ 9.516786] ? kernel_init_freeable+0x2d4/0x430 [ 9.521850] ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 [ 9.526426] xbc_exit+0x17/0x70 [ 9.529935] kernel_init+0x38/0x1e0 [ 9.533829] ? _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0xd/0x30 [ 9.538601] ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50 [ 9.542596] ? __pfx_kernel_init+0x10/0x10 [ 9.547170] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 9.551552] </TASK> [ 9.555649] The buggy address belongs to the physical page: [ 9.561875] page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x1 pfn:0x45dd30 [ 9.570821] flags: 0x200000000000000(node=0|zone=2) [ 9.576271] page_type: 0xffffffff() [ 9.580167] raw: 0200000000000000 ffffea0011774c48 ffffea0012ba1848 0000000000000000 [ 9.588823] raw: 0000000000000001 0000000000000000 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000 [ 9.597476] page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected [ 9.605362] Memory state around the buggy address: [ 9.610714] ffff88845dd2ff00: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 9.618786] ffff88845dd2ff80: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 [ 9.626857] >ffff88845dd30000: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff [ 9.634930] ^ [ 9.638534] ffff88845dd30080: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff [ 9.646605] ffff88845dd30100: ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff [ 9.654675] ==================================================================

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.8.8
Published
2024-05-01

Affected versions

From: 6.7

Until: 6.8.8

Fixed in: 6.8.8

How to fix this CVE

Update the Linux kernel to version 6.8.8 or later to resolve a use-after-free memory management vulnerability in the bootconfig subsystem. This vulnerability affects systems where the kernel attempts to free bootconfig memory using memblock_free() after the buddy allocator has already taken ownership, leading to potential crashes or undefined behavior. Apply the patch as soon as possible, particularly on x86 systems with CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK disabled.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check your running kernel version: uname -r — the output should show version 6.8.8 or later; versions 6.7.x through 6.8.7 are vulnerable
  2. Verify if CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK is disabled on x86: grep CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK /boot/config-$(uname -r) — if output is 'is not set', your system is at higher risk
  3. Search kernel logs for KASAN use-after-free reports: sudo journalctl -b | grep -i 'use-after-free\|memblock_isolate_range' — presence of these patterns indicates exploitation attempts
  4. After patching, reboot and confirm the new kernel version: uname -r should show 6.8.8 or later

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-26983?

CVE-2024-26983 is a use-after-free memory safety vulnerability in the Linux kernel's bootconfig subsystem where xbc_exit() incorrectly attempts to free memory to the memblock allocator after the buddy allocator has already taken ownership, causing memory corruption on systems without CONFIG_ARCH_KEEP_MEMBLOCK.

Is CVE-2024-26983 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2024-26983 is not listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are available, though it remains a reliability concern for kernel stability.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-26983?

Linux kernel versions 6.7 through 6.8.7 are vulnerable; version 6.8.8 and later contain the fix.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-26983?

Run 'uname -r' to check your kernel version — if it displays 6.7.x, 6.8.0 through 6.8.7, your system is vulnerable and requires immediate patching.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-26983?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If Kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2024-26983 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-2024-38612CVSS 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-2024-39462CVSS 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-2024-38541CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: of: module: add buffer overflow check in of_modalias() In of_modalias(), if the buffer happens to be too small even for the 1st snprintf() call, the len parameter will become negative and str parameter (if not NULL initially) will point beyond the buffer's end. Add the buffer overflow check after the 1st snprintf() call and fix such check after the strlen() call (accounting for the terminating NUL char).
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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