Linux Kernel up to 6.7.4 efistub memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.7.4. It has been rated as critical. This impacts an unknown function of the component efistub. Performing a manipulation results in memory corruption. This vulnerability was named CVE-2024-26678. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.7.4. This affects an unknown function of the component efistub. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/efistub: Use 1:1 file:memory mapping for PE/COFF .compat section The .compat section is a dummy PE section that contains the address of the 32-bit entrypoint of the 64-bit kernel image if it is bootable from 32-bit firmware (i.e., CONFIG_EFI_MIXED=y) This section is only 8 bytes in size and is only referenced from the loader, and so it is placed at the end of the memory view of the image, to avoid the need for padding it to 4k, which is required for sections appearing in the middle of the image. Unfortunately, this violates the PE/COFF spec, and even if most EFI loaders will work correctly (including the Tianocore reference implementation), PE loaders do exist that reject such images, on the basis that both the file and memory views of the file contents should be described by the section headers in a monotonically increasing manner without leaving any gaps. So reorganize the sections to avoid this issue. This results in a slight padding overhead (< 4k) which can be avoided if desired by disabling CONFIG_EFI_MIXED (which is only needed in rare cases these days)

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2024-26678 since 02/19/2024. The exploitability is told to be easy. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/17/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 210815 (RHEL 9 : kernel (RHSA-2024:9315)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.7.5 or 6.8 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 4adeeff8c123/1ad55cecf22f is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (210815). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.7.0
• 6.7.1
• 6.7.2
• 6.7.3
• 6.7.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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