high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-56669·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu/vt-d: Remove cache tags before disabling ATS The current implementation removes cache tags after disabling ATS, leading to potential memory leaks and kernel crashes. Specifically, CACHE_TAG_DEVTLB type cache tags may still remain in the list even after the domain is freed, causing a use-after-free condition. This issue really shows up when multiple VFs from different PFs passed through to a single user-space process via vfio-pci. In such cases, the kernel may crash with kernel messages like: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000014 PGD 19036a067 P4D 1940a3067 PUD 136c9b067 PMD 0 Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI CPU: 74 UID: 0 PID: 3183 Comm: testCli Not tainted 6.11.9 #2 RIP: 0010:cache_tag_flush_range+0x9b/0x250 Call Trace: <TASK> ? __die+0x1f/0x60 ? page_fault_oops+0x163/0x590 ? exc_page_fault+0x72/0x190 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x30 ? cache_tag_flush_range+0x9b/0x250 ? cache_tag_flush_range+0x5d/0x250 intel_iommu_tlb_sync+0x29/0x40 intel_iommu_unmap_pages+0xfe/0x160 __iommu_unmap+0xd8/0x1a0 vfio_unmap_unpin+0x182/0x340 [vfio_iommu_type1] vfio_remove_dma+0x2a/0xb0 [vfio_iommu_type1] vfio_iommu_type1_ioctl+0xafa/0x18e0 [vfio_iommu_type1] Move cache_tag_unassign_domain() before iommu_disable_pci_caps() to fix it.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.12.6
Published
2024-12-27

Affected versions

From: 6.10

Until: 6.12.6

Fixed in: 6.12.6

How to fix this CVE

Update the Linux kernel to version 6.12.6 or later to resolve a use-after-free vulnerability in the VT-d IOMMU subsystem that can cause kernel crashes when multiple virtual functions are passed through via VFIO. The fix reorders cache tag cleanup operations to occur before disabling ATS, preventing dangling references to freed memory structures.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-headers

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check your installed kernel version by running: uname -r (vulnerable if 6.10.x through 6.12.5)
  2. Verify if VT-d IOMMU and VFIO are enabled in your configuration: grep -E 'CONFIG_INTEL_IOMMU|CONFIG_VFIO' /boot/config-$(uname -r)
  3. Search system logs for the specific NULL pointer dereference in cache_tag_flush_range: sudo journalctl -b | grep -A5 'cache_tag_flush_range'
  4. After patching, reboot and confirm the new kernel version: uname -r (should show 6.12.6 or later)

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-56669?

This vulnerability affects the Intel VT-d IOMMU driver in the Linux kernel where cache tags for device TLB entries are removed after ATS is disabled, leaving dangling pointers that cause kernel panics when multiple PCIe virtual functions are passed to user-space applications via VFIO.

Is CVE-2024-56669 being actively exploited?

No, this CVE is not listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are available, though it can be triggered reliably in specific multi-VF passthrough scenarios.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-56669?

Linux kernel versions 6.10.0 through 6.12.5 are vulnerable; kernel 6.12.6 and later include the fix.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-56669?

Run 'uname -r' and verify the version is between 6.10 and 6.12.5; additionally confirm VT-d IOMMU support is enabled with 'grep CONFIG_INTEL_IOMMU /boot/config-$(uname -r)'.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-56669?

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-2024-56669 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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