CVE-2021-47585 btrfs: fix memory leak in __add_inode_ref()

Medium 5.5 Published Updated

A memory leak in the Linux kernel's btrfs filesystem allows attackers to cause denial of service by exhausting system memory.

Exploited in the wild
Not known
Login needed
Any signed-in user
Attackable
Local or same network only
Victim action needed
Not needed
Fix
Available

What is CVE-2021-47585?

CVE-2021-47585 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jun 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

btrfs: fix memory leak in __add_inode_ref()

Line 1169 (#3) allocates a memory chunk for victim_name by kmalloc(), but when the function returns in line 1184 (#4) victim_name allocated by line 1169 (#3) is not freed, which will lead to a memory leak. There is a similar snippet of code in this function as allocating a memory chunk for victim_name in line 1104 (#1) as well as releasing the memory in line 1116 (#2).

We should kfree() victim_name when the return value of backref_in_log() is less than zero and before the function returns in line 1184 (#4).

1057 static inline int __add_inode_ref(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans, 1058 struct btrfs_root *root, 1059 struct btrfs_path *path, 1060 struct btrfs_root *log_root, 1061 struct btrfs_inode *dir, 1062 struct btrfs_inode *inode, 1063 u64 inode_objectid, u64 parent_objectid, 1064 u64 ref_index, char *name, int namelen, 1065 int *search_done) 1066 {

1104 victim_name = kmalloc(victim_name_len, GFP_NOFS); // #1: kmalloc (victim_name-1) 1105 if (!victim_name) 1106 return -ENOMEM;

1112 ret = backref_in_log(log_root, &search_key, 1113 parent_objectid, victim_name, 1114 victim_name_len); 1115 if (ret < 0) { 1116 kfree(victim_name); // #2: kfree (victim_name-1) 1117 return ret; 1118 } else if (!ret) {

1169 victim_name = kmalloc(victim_name_len, GFP_NOFS); // #3: kmalloc (victim_name-2) 1170 if (!victim_name) 1171 return -ENOMEM;

1180 ret = backref_in_log(log_root, &search_key, 1181 parent_objectid, victim_name, 1182 victim_name_len); 1183 if (ret < 0) { 1184 return ret; // #4: missing kfree (victim_name-2) 1185 } else if (!ret) {

1241 return 0; 1242 }

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-47585?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2021-47585?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2021-47585 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-47585 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2021-47585, GHSA-5mvf-mw2h-9f35, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-47585.

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