CVE-2023-52845 tipc: Change nla_policy for bearer-related names to NLA_NUL_STRING

High 7.1 Published Updated

A local attacker can trigger an uninitialized memory access in the TIPC subsystem, potentially leaking sensitive kernel memory contents.

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-2023-52845?

CVE-2023-52845 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 21 May 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:

tipc: Change nla_policy for bearer-related names to NLA_NUL_STRING

syzbot reported the following uninit-value access issue [1]:

===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in strlen lib/string.c:418 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in strstr+0xb8/0x2f0 lib/string.c:756 strlen lib/string.c:418 [inline] strstr+0xb8/0x2f0 lib/string.c:756 tipc_nl_node_reset_link_stats+0x3ea/0xb50 net/tipc/node.c:2595 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit net/netlink/genetlink.c:971 [inline] genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1051 [inline] genl_rcv_msg+0x11ec/0x1290 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1066 netlink_rcv_skb+0x371/0x650 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2545 genl_rcv+0x40/0x60 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1075 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1342 [inline] netlink_unicast+0xf47/0x1250 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1368 netlink_sendmsg+0x1238/0x13d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1910 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:753 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x9c2/0xd60 net/socket.c:2541 ___sys_sendmsg+0x28d/0x3c0 net/socket.c:2595 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2624 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2633 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2631 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x307/0x490 net/socket.c:2631 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook+0x12f/0xb70 mm/slab.h:767 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3478 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x577/0xa80 mm/slub.c:3523 kmalloc_reserve+0x13d/0x4a0 net/core/skbuff.c:559 __alloc_skb+0x318/0x740 net/core/skbuff.c:650 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1286 [inline] netlink_alloc_large_skb net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1214 [inline] netlink_sendmsg+0xb34/0x13d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1885 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:753 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x9c2/0xd60 net/socket.c:2541 ___sys_sendmsg+0x28d/0x3c0 net/socket.c:2595 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2624 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2633 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2631 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x307/0x490 net/socket.c:2631 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

TIPC bearer-related names including link names must be null-terminated strings. If a link name which is not null-terminated is passed through netlink, strstr() and similar functions can cause buffer overrun. This causes the above issue.

This patch changes the nla_policy for bearer-related names from NLA_STRING to NLA_NUL_STRING. This resolves the issue by ensuring that only null-terminated strings are accepted as bearer-related names.

syzbot reported similar uninit-value issue related to bearer names [2]. The root cause of this issue is that a non-null-terminated bearer name was passed. This patch also resolved this issue.

Weakness: CWE-908

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-52845?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-52845?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2023-52845 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-52845 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2023-52845, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-52845, GHSA-5p87-vhr3-gp4q, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-52845.

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