high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-41050·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cachefiles: cyclic allocation of msg_id to avoid reuse Reusing the msg_id after a maliciously completed reopen request may cause a read request to remain unprocessed and result in a hung, as shown below: t1 | t2 | t3 ------------------------------------------------- cachefiles_ondemand_select_req cachefiles_ondemand_object_is_close(A) cachefiles_ondemand_set_object_reopening(A) queue_work(fscache_object_wq, &info->work) ondemand_object_worker cachefiles_ondemand_init_object(A) cachefiles_ondemand_send_req(OPEN) // get msg_id 6 wait_for_completion(&req_A->done) cachefiles_ondemand_daemon_read // read msg_id 6 req_A cachefiles_ondemand_get_fd copy_to_user // Malicious completion msg_id 6 copen 6,-1 cachefiles_ondemand_copen complete(&req_A->done) // will not set the object to close // because ondemand_id && fd is valid. // ondemand_object_worker() is done // but the object is still reopening. // new open req_B cachefiles_ondemand_init_object(B) cachefiles_ondemand_send_req(OPEN) // reuse msg_id 6 process_open_req copen 6,A.size // The expected failed copen was executed successfully Expect copen to fail, and when it does, it closes fd, which sets the object to close, and then close triggers reopen again. However, due to msg_id reuse resulting in a successful copen, the anonymous fd is not closed until the daemon exits. Therefore read requests waiting for reopen to complete may trigger hung task. To avoid this issue, allocate the msg_id cyclically to avoid reusing the msg_id for a very short duration of time.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.9.10
Published
2024-07-29

Affected versions

From: 6.7

Until: 6.9.10

Fixed in: 6.9.10

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.9.10 or later to resolve a message ID reuse vulnerability in the cachefiles subsystem that can cause read requests to hang indefinitely. This issue affects kernel versions 6.7 through 6.9.9 and is remediated by implementing cyclic allocation of message identifiers to prevent collision. Apply the kernel update immediately followed by a system reboot to activate the patched version.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel && sudo reboot

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check kernel version: uname -r and verify it is 6.9.10 or later; affected versions show 6.7.x through 6.9.9
  2. Confirm cachefiles module is loaded: lsmod | grep cachefiles; if present, the component is active and vulnerable
  3. Search system logs for hung task messages: grep -i 'hung task' /var/log/kern.log or journalctl -u kernel | grep -i 'hung' to identify potential exploitation attempts
  4. After patching, verify the new kernel is running: uname -r should display 6.9.10 or higher; confirm with cat /proc/version to match build date post-update

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-41050?

CVE-2024-41050 is a Linux kernel vulnerability in the cachefiles on-demand subsystem where message identifiers can be reused prematurely, causing maliciously crafted completion messages to interfere with legitimate I/O requests. This can result in hung tasks when a read request waits indefinitely for an object reopening that never completes due to message ID collision.

Is CVE-2024-41050 being actively exploited?

CVE-2024-41050 is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are currently available. However, it requires local system access and intentional malicious daemon interaction to trigger, so the risk depends on your environment's threat model.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-41050?

Linux kernel versions 6.7.0 through 6.9.9 are vulnerable; kernel 6.9.10 and later versions contain the fix implementing cyclic message ID allocation.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-41050?

Run `uname -r` to display your kernel version; if the output is between 6.7 and 6.9.9, your system is vulnerable. Additionally, check if cachefiles is loaded with `lsmod | grep cachefiles` to confirm exposure of the affected subsystem.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-41050?

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-2024-41050 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-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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