CVE-2024-36009 ax25: Fix netdev refcount issue
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel AX.25 subsystem allows local attackers to cause a system crash via improper reference counting during device detachment.
- 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-2024-36009?
CVE-2024-36009 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 20 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:
ax25: Fix netdev refcount issue
The dev_tracker is added to ax25_cb in ax25_bind(). When the ax25 device is detaching, the dev_tracker of ax25_cb should be deallocated in ax25_kill_by_device() instead of the dev_tracker of ax25_dev. The log reported by ref_tracker is shown below:
[ 80.884935] ref_tracker: reference already released. [ 80.885150] ref_tracker: allocated in: [ 80.885349] ax25_dev_device_up+0x105/0x540 [ 80.885730] ax25_device_event+0xa4/0x420 [ 80.885730] notifier_call_chain+0xc9/0x1e0 [ 80.885730] __dev_notify_flags+0x138/0x280 [ 80.885730] dev_change_flags+0xd7/0x180 [ 80.885730] dev_ifsioc+0x6a9/0xa30 [ 80.885730] dev_ioctl+0x4d8/0xd90 [ 80.885730] sock_do_ioctl+0x1c2/0x2d0 [ 80.885730] sock_ioctl+0x38b/0x4f0 [ 80.885730] __se_sys_ioctl+0xad/0xf0 [ 80.885730] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 80.885730] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f [ 80.885730] ref_tracker: freed in: [ 80.885730] ax25_device_event+0x272/0x420 [ 80.885730] notifier_call_chain+0xc9/0x1e0 [ 80.885730] dev_close_many+0x272/0x370 [ 80.885730] unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0x3b5/0x1180 [ 80.885730] unregister_netdev+0xcf/0x120 [ 80.885730] sixpack_close+0x11f/0x1b0 [ 80.885730] tty_ldisc_kill+0xcb/0x190 [ 80.885730] tty_ldisc_hangup+0x338/0x3d0 [ 80.885730] __tty_hangup+0x504/0x740 [ 80.885730] tty_release+0x46e/0xd80 [ 80.885730] __fput+0x37f/0x770 [ 80.885730] __x64_sys_close+0x7b/0xb0 [ 80.885730] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 80.885730] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f [ 80.893739] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 80.894030] WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 140 at lib/ref_tracker.c:255 ref_tracker_free+0x47b/0x6b0 [ 80.894297] Modules linked in: [ 80.894929] CPU: 2 PID: 140 Comm: ax25_conn_rel_6 Not tainted 6.9.0-rc4-g8cd26fd90c1a #11 [ 80.895190] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS rel-1.14.0-0-g155821a1990b-prebuilt.qem4 [ 80.895514] RIP: 0010:ref_tracker_free+0x47b/0x6b0 [ 80.895808] Code: 83 c5 18 4c 89 eb 48 c1 eb 03 8a 04 13 84 c0 0f 85 df 01 00 00 41 83 7d 00 00 75 4b 4c 89 ff 9 [ 80.896171] RSP: 0018:ffff888009edf8c0 EFLAGS: 00000286 [ 80.896339] RAX: 1ffff1100141ac00 RBX: 1ffff1100149463b RCX: dffffc0000000000 [ 80.896502] RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 0000000000000246 RDI: ffff88800a0d6518 [ 80.896925] RBP: ffff888009edf9b0 R08: ffff88806d3288d3 R09: 1ffff1100da6511a [ 80.897212] R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: ffffed100da6511b R12: ffff88800a4a31d4 [ 80.897859] R13: ffff88800a4a31d8 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffff88800a0d6518 [ 80.898279] FS: 00007fd88b7fe700(0000) GS:ffff88806d300000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 80.899436] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 80.900181] CR2: 00007fd88c001d48 CR3: 000000000993e000 CR4: 00000000000006f0 ... [ 80.935774] ref_tracker: sp%d@000000000bb9df3d has 1/1 users at [ 80.935774] ax25_bind+0x424/0x4e0 [ 80.935774] __sys_bind+0x1d9/0x270 [ 80.935774] __x64_sys_bind+0x75/0x80 [ 80.935774] do_syscall_64+0xc4/0x1b0 [ 80.935774] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x67/0x6f
Change ax25_dev->dev_tracker to the dev_tracker of ax25_cb in order to mitigate the bug.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-36009?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2024-36009?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2024-36009 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-36009 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-42121, AZL-67706, BELL-CVE-2024-36009, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-36009, GHSA-x92x-33cw-2vqw, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-36009 and 2 more.