high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-38555·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5: Discard command completions in internal error Fix use after free when FW completion arrives while device is in internal error state. Avoid calling completion handler in this case, since the device will flush the command interface and trigger all completions manually. Kernel log: ------------[ cut here ]------------ refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. ... RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0xd8/0xe0 ... Call Trace: <IRQ> ? __warn+0x79/0x120 ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xd8/0xe0 ? report_bug+0x17c/0x190 ? handle_bug+0x3c/0x60 ? exc_invalid_op+0x14/0x70 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xd8/0xe0 cmd_ent_put+0x13b/0x160 [mlx5_core] mlx5_cmd_comp_handler+0x5f9/0x670 [mlx5_core] cmd_comp_notifier+0x1f/0x30 [mlx5_core] notifier_call_chain+0x35/0xb0 atomic_notifier_call_chain+0x16/0x20 mlx5_eq_async_int+0xf6/0x290 [mlx5_core] notifier_call_chain+0x35/0xb0 atomic_notifier_call_chain+0x16/0x20 irq_int_handler+0x19/0x30 [mlx5_core] __handle_irq_event_percpu+0x4b/0x160 handle_irq_event+0x2e/0x80 handle_edge_irq+0x98/0x230 __common_interrupt+0x3b/0xa0 common_interrupt+0x7b/0xa0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_common_interrupt+0x22/0x40

Severity: high
Software: Kernel
Fixed in: 6.9.3
Published: 2024-06-19

Affected versions

From: 6.9

Until: 6.9.3

Fixed in: 6.9.3

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.9.3 or later to resolve a use-after-free vulnerability in the MLX5 network driver's command completion handler. This issue occurs when the firmware sends command completions while the device is in an internal error state, causing memory corruption and system instability. Apply the kernel update and reboot your system to fully remediate the vulnerability.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

Check your current kernel version: uname -r (verify if version is 6.9.0 through 6.9.2)
Verify MLX5 driver is loaded: lsmod | grep mlx5 (if output is empty, component is not exposed)
Search for refcount underflow errors in system logs: grep -i 'refcount_t.*underflow\|use-after-free' /var/log/kern.log /var/log/syslog
Confirm patch application after update: uname -r should show 6.9.3 or newer, and dmesg should not contain mlx5_cmd_comp_handler errors

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-38555?

CVE-2024-38555 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's MLX5 (Mellanox) network driver that occurs when firmware completions arrive while the device is handling an internal error state, leading to memory corruption and potential system crashes.

Is CVE-2024-38555 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog and no public exploits are available. However, it poses a high risk due to its CVSS score of 7.8 and potential for privilege escalation.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-38555?

Kernel versions 6.9.0 through 6.9.2 are affected. Version 6.9.3 and later contain the fix.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-38555?

Run uname -r to check your kernel version. If it shows 6.9.0, 6.9.1, or 6.9.2, and lsmod | grep mlx5 returns output, your system is vulnerable.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-38555?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed package versions against the NVD database. If the Linux kernel is installed on a monitored server, CVE-2024-38555 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-2024-36031CVSS 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-2022-48716CVSS 9.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ASoC: codecs: wcd938x: fix incorrect used of portid Mixer controls have the channel id in mixer->reg, which is not same as port id. port id should be derived from chan_info array. So fix this. Without this, its possible that we could corrupt struct wcd938x_sdw_priv by accessing port_map array out of range with channel id instead of port id.

References

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