CVE-2024-50226 cxl/port: Fix use-after-free, permit out-of-order decoder shutdown
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel CXL subsystem allows attackers to cause a system crash or potentially execute arbitrary code.
- 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-2024-50226?
CVE-2024-50226 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 9 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:
cxl/port: Fix use-after-free, permit out-of-order decoder shutdown
In support of investigating an initialization failure report [1], cxl_test was updated to register mock memory-devices after the mock root-port/bus device had been registered. That led to cxl_test crashing with a use-after-free bug with the following signature:
cxl_port_attach_region: cxl region3: cxl_host_bridge.0:port3 decoder3.0 add: mem0:decoder7.0 @ 0 next: cxl_switch_uport.0 nr_eps: 1 nr_targets: 1 cxl_port_attach_region: cxl region3: cxl_host_bridge.0:port3 decoder3.0 add: mem4:decoder14.0 @ 1 next: cxl_switch_uport.0 nr_eps: 2 nr_targets: 1 cxl_port_setup_targets: cxl region3: cxl_switch_uport.0:port6 target[0] = cxl_switch_dport.0 for mem0:decoder7.0 @ 0 1) cxl_port_setup_targets: cxl region3: cxl_switch_uport.0:port6 target[1] = cxl_switch_dport.4 for mem4:decoder14.0 @ 1 [..] cxld_unregister: cxl decoder14.0: cxl_region_decode_reset: cxl_region region3: mock_decoder_reset: cxl_port port3: decoder3.0 reset 2) mock_decoder_reset: cxl_port port3: decoder3.0: out of order reset, expected decoder3.1 cxl_endpoint_decoder_release: cxl decoder14.0: [..] cxld_unregister: cxl decoder7.0: 3) cxl_region_decode_reset: cxl_region region3: Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0x6b6b6b6b6b6b6bc3: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [..] RIP: 0010:to_cxl_port+0x8/0x60 [cxl_core] [..] Call Trace: <TASK> cxl_region_decode_reset+0x69/0x190 [cxl_core] cxl_region_detach+0xe8/0x210 [cxl_core] cxl_decoder_kill_region+0x27/0x40 [cxl_core] cxld_unregister+0x5d/0x60 [cxl_core]
At 1) a region has been established with 2 endpoint decoders (7.0 and 14.0). Those endpoints share a common switch-decoder in the topology (3.0). At teardown, 2), decoder14.0 is the first to be removed and hits the "out of order reset case" in the switch decoder. The effect though is that region3 cleanup is aborted leaving it in-tact and referencing decoder14.0. At 3) the second attempt to teardown region3 trips over the stale decoder14.0 object which has long since been deleted.
The fix here is to recognize that the CXL specification places no mandate on in-order shutdown of switch-decoders, the driver enforces in-order allocation, and hardware enforces in-order commit. So, rather than fail and leave objects dangling, always remove them.
In support of making cxl_region_decode_reset() always succeed, cxl_region_invalidate_memregion() failures are turned into warnings. Crashing the kernel is ok there since system integrity is at risk if caches cannot be managed around physical address mutation events like CXL region destruction.
A new device_for_each_child_reverse_from() is added to cleanup port->commit_end after all dependent decoders have been disabled. In other words if decoders are allocated 0->1->2 and disabled 1->2->0 then port->commit_end only decrements from 2 after 2 has been disabled, and it decrements all the way to zero since 1 was disabled previously.
Weakness: CWE-416
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-50226?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2024-50226?
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-2024-50226 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-50226 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2024-50226, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-50226, GHSA-2742-r3c2-2qgj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2024-50226, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-50226.