high CVSS 7.8

CVE-2024-57849·Kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: s390/cpum_sf: Handle CPU hotplug remove during sampling CPU hotplug remove handling triggers the following function call sequence: CPUHP_AP_PERF_S390_SF_ONLINE --> s390_pmu_sf_offline_cpu() ... CPUHP_AP_PERF_ONLINE --> perf_event_exit_cpu() The s390 CPUMF sampling CPU hotplug handler invokes: s390_pmu_sf_offline_cpu() +--> cpusf_pmu_setup() +--> setup_pmc_cpu() +--> deallocate_buffers() This function de-allocates all sampling data buffers (SDBs) allocated for that CPU at event initialization. It also clears the PMU_F_RESERVED bit. The CPU is gone and can not be sampled. With the event still being active on the removed CPU, the CPU event hotplug support in kernel performance subsystem triggers the following function calls on the removed CPU: perf_event_exit_cpu() +--> perf_event_exit_cpu_context() +--> __perf_event_exit_context() +--> __perf_remove_from_context() +--> event_sched_out() +--> cpumsf_pmu_del() +--> cpumsf_pmu_stop() +--> hw_perf_event_update() to stop and remove the event. During removal of the event, the sampling device driver tries to read out the remaining samples from the sample data buffers (SDBs). But they have already been freed (and may have been re-assigned). This may lead to a use after free situation in which case the samples are most likely invalid. In the best case the memory has not been reassigned and still contains valid data. Remedy this situation and check if the CPU is still in reserved state (bit PMU_F_RESERVED set). In this case the SDBs have not been released an contain valid data. This is always the case when the event is removed (and no CPU hotplug off occured). If the PMU_F_RESERVED bit is not set, the SDB buffers are gone.

Severity
high
Software
Kernel
Fixed in
6.12.5
Published
2025-01-11

Affected versions

From: 6.7

Until: 6.12.5

Fixed in: 6.12.5

How to fix this CVE

Update your Linux kernel to version 6.12.5 or later to resolve this CPU hotplug handling vulnerability in the s390 performance sampling subsystem. The vulnerability occurs when CPUs are removed while performance monitoring events are active, leading to potential use-after-free conditions. Apply the kernel update as soon as possible, particularly if you run performance monitoring workloads on s390 systems.

sudo dnf update kernel kernel-devel

Defensia detects this vulnerability

How to check if you are affected

  1. Check your kernel version: uname -r and verify it is 6.12.5 or later
  2. Confirm s390 CPUMF sampling is in use: grep -i 'cpum_sf\|perf_event' /proc/modules or perf list | grep -i s390
  3. Monitor system logs for use-after-free indicators: grep -i 'use after free\|memory corruption\|segfault' /var/log/kern.log or journalctl -k | grep -i 'fault\|error'
  4. Verify the fix by checking commit references in kernel release notes: grep -r '06a92f810df8037ca36157282ddcbefdcaf049b8' /boot/config* or checking kernel source tags

FAQ

What is CVE-2024-57849?

This vulnerability affects Linux kernel s390 CPU performance sampling when CPUs are hot-removed while performance monitoring events remain active, potentially causing the kernel to access freed memory buffers and triggering system instability or data corruption.

Is CVE-2024-57849 being actively exploited?

No, CVE-2024-57849 is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and no public exploits are available. However, it poses a reliability risk for production s390 systems using performance monitoring features.

What versions of Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-57849?

Linux kernel versions 6.7 through 6.12.4 are vulnerable. The vulnerability is resolved in kernel 6.12.5 and later.

How do I check if my server is vulnerable to CVE-2024-57849?

Run 'uname -r' to check your kernel version; if it shows 6.7 to 6.12.4 on an s390 system, you are vulnerable. Also verify s390 CPUMF is enabled with 'grep CONFIG_S390_CPUMSF /boot/config-$(uname -r)'.

Does Defensia detect CVE-2024-57849?

Yes — Defensia's CVE advisory scanner compares installed kernel versions against the NVD database. If a vulnerable kernel is detected on a monitored s390 system, CVE-2024-57849 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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