Linux Kernel up to 6.8.4 on Vector riscv rt_sigreturn state issue

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as problematic has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.8.4 on Vector. Affected by this issue is the function rt_sigreturn of the component riscv. Such manipulation leads to state issue. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2024-35873. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.8.4 on Vector. It has been rated as problematic. Affected by this issue is the function rt_sigreturn of the component riscv. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a state issue vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-371. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: Fix vector state restore in rt_sigreturn() The RISC-V Vector specification states in "Appendix D: Calling Convention for Vector State" [1] that "Executing a system call causes all caller-saved vector registers (v0-v31, vl, vtype) and vstart to become unspecified.". In the RISC-V kernel this is called "discarding the vstate". Returning from a signal handler via the rt_sigreturn() syscall, vector discard is also performed. However, this is not an issue since the vector state should be restored from the sigcontext, and therefore not care about the vector discard. The "live state" is the actual vector register in the running context, and the "vstate" is the vector state of the task. A dirty live state, means that the vstate and live state are not in synch. When vectorized user_from_copy() was introduced, an bug sneaked in at the restoration code, related to the discard of the live state. An example when this go wrong: 1. A userland application is executing vector code 2. The application receives a signal, and the signal handler is entered. 3. The application returns from the signal handler, using the rt_sigreturn() syscall. 4. The live vector state is discarded upon entering the rt_sigreturn(), and the live state is marked as "dirty", indicating that the live state need to be synchronized with the current vstate. 5. rt_sigreturn() restores the vstate, except the Vector registers, from the sigcontext 6. rt_sigreturn() restores the Vector registers, from the sigcontext, and now the vectorized user_from_copy() is used. The dirty live state from the discard is saved to the vstate, making the vstate corrupt. 7. rt_sigreturn() returns to the application, which crashes due to corrupted vstate. Note that the vectorized user_from_copy() is invoked depending on the value of CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_V_UCOPY_THRESHOLD. Default is 768, which means that vlen has to be larger than 128b for this bug to trigger. The fix is simply to mark the live state as non-dirty/clean prior performing the vstate restore.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2024-35873 since 05/17/2024. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 6.8.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 5b16d904e910/c27fa53b858b 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.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.8.0
• 6.8.1
• 6.8.2
• 6.8.3
• 6.8.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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