CVE-2024-50114 KVM: arm64: Unregister redistributor for failed vCPU creation

What is CVE-2024-50114?

CVE-2024-50114 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 5 Nov 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:

KVM: arm64: Unregister redistributor for failed vCPU creation

Alex reports that syzkaller has managed to trigger a use-after-free when tearing down a VM:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in kvm_put_kvm+0x300/0xe68 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5769 Read of size 8 at addr ffffff801c6890d0 by task syz.3.2219/10758

CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 10758 Comm: syz.3.2219 Not tainted 6.11.0-rc6-dirty #64 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: dump_backtrace+0x17c/0x1a8 arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:317 show_stack+0x2c/0x3c arch/arm64/kernel/stacktrace.c:324 __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:93 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x94/0xc0 lib/dump_stack.c:119 print_report+0x144/0x7a4 mm/kasan/report.c:377 kasan_report+0xcc/0x128 mm/kasan/report.c:601 __asan_report_load8_noabort+0x20/0x2c mm/kasan/report_generic.c:381 kvm_put_kvm+0x300/0xe68 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:5769 kvm_vm_release+0x4c/0x60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1409 __fput+0x198/0x71c fs/file_table.c:422 ____fput+0x20/0x30 fs/file_table.c:450 task_work_run+0x1cc/0x23c kernel/task_work.c:228 do_notify_resume+0x144/0x1a0 include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 el0_svc+0x64/0x68 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:169 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x90/0xfc arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:730 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:598

Upon closer inspection, it appears that we do not properly tear down the MMIO registration for a vCPU that fails creation late in the game, e.g. a vCPU w/ the same ID already exists in the VM.

It is important to consider the context of commit that introduced this bug by moving the unregistration out of __kvm_vgic_vcpu_destroy(). That change correctly sought to avoid an srcu v. config_lock inversion by breaking up the vCPU teardown into two parts, one guarded by the config_lock.

Fix the use-after-free while avoiding lock inversion by adding a special-cased unregistration to __kvm_vgic_vcpu_destroy(). This is safe because failed vCPUs are torn down outside of the config_lock.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50114?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2024-50114?

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-2024-50114 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50114 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-50114, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50114, GHSA-24c8-3jp4-h926, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50114.