high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-50112·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/lam: Disable ADDRESS_MASKING in most cases Linear Address Masking (LAM) has a weakness related to transient execution as described in the SLAM paper[1]. Unless Linear Address Space Separation (LASS) is enabled this weakness may be exploitable. Until kernel adds support for LASS[2], only allow LAM for COMPILE_TEST, or when speculation mitigations have been disabled at compile time, otherwise keep LAM disabled. There are no processors in market that support LAM yet, so currently nobody is affected by this issue. [1] SLAM: https://download.vusec.net/papers/slam_sp24.pdf [2] LASS: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230609183632.48706-1-alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com/ [ dhansen: update SPECULATION_MITIGATIONS -> CPU_MITIGATIONS ]

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.11.6
Published
2024-11-05

Affected versions

From: 6.7

Until: 6.11.6

Fixed in: 6.11.6

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.11.6 or later to disable the vulnerable Linear Address Masking (LAM) feature until proper mitigations are in place. This patch restricts LAM usage to systems with speculation mitigations disabled or test builds, eliminating a transient execution side-channel weakness. Kernel updates should be applied and systems rebooted to take effect.

sudo dnf check-update kernel && sudo dnf update kernel && sudo reboot

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Step 1: Check your current kernel version with `uname -r` and verify it is 6.11.6 or later
  2. Step 2: Confirm LAM is disabled by checking `cat /proc/cmdline` for the absence of `lam=` parameters, or inspect kernel config with `cat /boot/config-$(uname -r) | grep CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_LINEAR_ADDRESS_MASKING`
  3. Step 3: Search system logs for LAM-related warnings with `sudo grep -i 'lam\|linear.*address' /var/log/kern.log /var/log/messages 2>/dev/null`
  4. Step 4: After patching, verify the kernel version again with `uname -r` to confirm 6.11.6+ is running, then run `sudo systemctl status` to ensure no pending reboot is required

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-50112?

CVE-2024-50112 is a transient execution vulnerability in Linux kernel's Linear Address Masking (LAM) feature that could be exploited via speculative execution side-channels when LASS (Linear Address Space Separation) is unavailable. The patch disables LAM by default to prevent exploitation until proper security isolation mechanisms are implemented.

Is CVE-2024-50112 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2024-50112 is not actively exploited in the wild and there are no public exploits available. Additionally, no processors currently on the market support LAM, making practical exploitation impossible at this time.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-50112?

Linux kernel versions 6.7 through 6.11.5 are vulnerable. The fix is available in kernel 6.11.6 and later.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-50112?

Run `uname -r` to display your kernel version. If the output shows version 6.7 to 6.11.5, your system is vulnerable and requires a kernel update to 6.11.6 or later.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-50112?

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-2024-50112 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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