high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-53168·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sunrpc: fix one UAF issue caused by sunrpc kernel tcp socket BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in tcp_write_timer_handler+0x156/0x3e0 Read of size 1 at addr ffff888111f322cd by task swapper/0/0 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.12.0-rc4-dirty #7 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0xa0 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x2c/0x3d0 print_report+0xb4/0x270 kasan_report+0xbd/0xf0 tcp_write_timer_handler+0x156/0x3e0 tcp_write_timer+0x66/0x170 call_timer_fn+0xfb/0x1d0 __run_timers+0x3f8/0x480 run_timer_softirq+0x9b/0x100 handle_softirqs+0x153/0x390 __irq_exit_rcu+0x103/0x120 irq_exit_rcu+0xe/0x20 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x76/0x90 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1a/0x20 RIP: 0010:default_idle+0xf/0x20 Code: 4c 01 c7 4c 29 c2 e9 72 ff ff ff 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 f3 0f 1e fa 66 90 0f 00 2d 33 f8 25 00 fb f4 <fa> c3 cc cc cc cc 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 90 90 90 90 90 RSP: 0018:ffffffffa2007e28 EFLAGS: 00000242 RAX: 00000000000f3b31 RBX: 1ffffffff4400fc7 RCX: ffffffffa09c3196 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffffff9f00590f RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: ffffed102360835d R10: ffff88811b041aeb R11: 0000000000000001 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffffffffa202d7c0 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 00000000000147d0 default_idle_call+0x6b/0xa0 cpuidle_idle_call+0x1af/0x1f0 do_idle+0xbc/0x130 cpu_startup_entry+0x33/0x40 rest_init+0x11f/0x210 start_kernel+0x39a/0x420 x86_64_start_reservations+0x18/0x30 x86_64_start_kernel+0x97/0xa0 common_startup_64+0x13e/0x141 </TASK> Allocated by task 595: kasan_save_stack+0x24/0x50 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 __kasan_slab_alloc+0x87/0x90 kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x12b/0x3f0 copy_net_ns+0x94/0x380 create_new_namespaces+0x24c/0x500 unshare_nsproxy_namespaces+0x75/0xf0 ksys_unshare+0x24e/0x4f0 __x64_sys_unshare+0x1f/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x70/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e Freed by task 100: kasan_save_stack+0x24/0x50 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 __kasan_slab_free+0x54/0x70 kmem_cache_free+0x156/0x5d0 cleanup_net+0x5d3/0x670 process_one_work+0x776/0xa90 worker_thread+0x2e2/0x560 kthread+0x1a8/0x1f0 ret_from_fork+0x34/0x60 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Reproduction script: mkdir -p /mnt/nfsshare mkdir -p /mnt/nfs/netns_1 mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb mount /dev/sdb /mnt/nfsshare systemctl restart nfs-server chmod 777 /mnt/nfsshare exportfs -i -o rw,no_root_squash *:/mnt/nfsshare ip netns add netns_1 ip link add name veth_1_peer type veth peer veth_1 ifconfig veth_1_peer 11.11.0.254 up ip link set veth_1 netns netns_1 ip netns exec netns_1 ifconfig veth_1 11.11.0.1 ip netns exec netns_1 /root/iptables -A OUTPUT -d 11.11.0.254 -p tcp \ --tcp-flags FIN FIN -j DROP (note: In my environment, a DESTROY_CLIENTID operation is always sent immediately, breaking the nfs tcp connection.) ip netns exec netns_1 timeout -s 9 300 mount -t nfs -o proto=tcp,vers=4.1 \ 11.11.0.254:/mnt/nfsshare /mnt/nfs/netns_1 ip netns del netns_1 The reason here is that the tcp socket in netns_1 (nfs side) has been shutdown and closed (done in xs_destroy), but the FIN message (with ack) is discarded, and the nfsd side keeps sending retransmission messages. As a result, when the tcp sock in netns_1 processes the received message, it sends the message (FIN message) in the sending queue, and the tcp timer is re-established. When the network namespace is deleted, the net structure accessed by tcp's timer handler function causes problems. To fix this problem, let's hold netns refcnt for the tcp kernel socket as done in other modules. This is an ugly hack which can easily be backported to earlier kernels. A proper fix which cleans up the interfaces will follow, but may not be so easy to backport.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.12.2
Published
2024-12-27

Affected versions

From: 6.12

Until: 6.12.2

Fixed in: 6.12.2

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.12.2 or later to resolve a use-after-free vulnerability in the sunrpc TCP socket handling. This issue occurs when network namespaces are deleted while NFS TCP connections remain active with pending retransmissions, causing the kernel's TCP timer handler to access freed memory. Apply the kernel security patch immediately, especially if your systems use NFS over TCP in containerized or namespace-isolated environments.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check kernel version: uname -r — verify it is 6.12.2 or later
  2. List loaded kernel modules related to sunrpc: lsmod | grep sunrpc
  3. Search system logs for UAF indicators: dmesg | grep -i 'use-after-free\|kasan\|slab-use-after-free'
  4. Monitor for TCP timer handler crashes: journalctl -u kernel | grep 'tcp_write_timer_handler'
  5. Verify NFS mounts are stable: cat /proc/mounts | grep nfs and check mount status with mount | grep nfs

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-53168?

CVE-2024-53168 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's sunrpc module that occurs when NFS TCP sockets are not properly cleaned up before their network namespace is destroyed, allowing the TCP timer handler to access freed memory structures.

Is CVE-2024-53168 being actively exploited?

No, this vulnerability is not listed on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list and no public exploits are available. However, exploitation can occur accidentally in production environments using NFS with network namespaces or containers.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-53168?

Linux kernel versions 6.12.0 through 6.12.1 are vulnerable. The fix was applied in kernel 6.12.2.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-53168?

Run 'uname -r' and check if your kernel version is between 6.12.0 and 6.12.1 inclusive. If so, your system is vulnerable and requires immediate patching.

What systems are most at risk from CVE-2024-53168?

Systems running kernel 6.12.0–6.12.1 with NFS over TCP mounts, particularly those using Linux network namespaces, containers (Docker, Kubernetes), or complex networking setups where namespace cleanup occurs while NFS connections are active.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-53168?

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-2024-53168 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

Track CVEs across your fleet automatically

Defensia scans your Linux servers and tells you exactly which ones are running vulnerable versions — including CVE-2024-53168. Free for 1 server.

Get started free