Linux Kernel up to 5.16.4 arm64 load_unaligned_zeropad null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.16.4. This affects the function load_unaligned_zeropad of the component arm64. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2022-48762. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 5.16.4. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function load_unaligned_zeropad of the component arm64. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: extable: fix load_unaligned_zeropad() reg indices In ex_handler_load_unaligned_zeropad() we erroneously extract the data and addr register indices from ex->type rather than ex->data. As ex->type will contain EX_TYPE_LOAD_UNALIGNED_ZEROPAD (i.e. 4): * We'll always treat X0 as the address register, since EX_DATA_REG_ADDR is extracted from bits [9:5]. Thus, we may attempt to dereference an arbitrary address as X0 may hold an arbitrary value. * We'll always treat X4 as the data register, since EX_DATA_REG_DATA is extracted from bits [4:0]. Thus we will corrupt X4 and cause arbitrary behaviour within load_unaligned_zeropad() and its caller. Fix this by extracting both values from ex->data as originally intended. On an MTE-enabled QEMU image we are hitting the following crash: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 Call trace: fixup_exception+0xc4/0x108 __do_kernel_fault+0x3c/0x268 do_tag_check_fault+0x3c/0x104 do_mem_abort+0x44/0xf4 el1_abort+0x40/0x64 el1h_64_sync_handler+0x60/0xa0 el1h_64_sync+0x7c/0x80 link_path_walk+0x150/0x344 path_openat+0xa0/0x7dc do_filp_open+0xb8/0x168 do_sys_openat2+0x88/0x17c __arm64_sys_openat+0x74/0xa0 invoke_syscall+0x48/0x148 el0_svc_common+0xb8/0xf8 do_el0_svc+0x28/0x88 el0_svc+0x24/0x84 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x88/0xec el0t_64_sync+0x1b4/0x1b8 Code: f8695a69 71007d1f 540000e0 927df12a (f940014a)

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2022-48762. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

Upgrading to version 5.16.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 47fe7a1c5e3e/3758a6c74e08 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

• 5.16.0
• 5.16.1
• 5.16.2
• 5.16.3
• 5.16.4

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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