Linux Kernel up to 6.1.94/6.6.34/6.9.5 ax25_release use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.94/6.6.34/6.9.5. The impacted element is the function ax25_release. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2024-40910. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.1.94/6.6.34/6.9.5. Affected by this vulnerability is the function ax25_release. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ax25: Fix refcount imbalance on inbound connections When releasing a socket in ax25_release(), we call netdev_put() to decrease the refcount on the associated ax.25 device. However, the execution path for accepting an incoming connection never calls netdev_hold(). This imbalance leads to refcount errors, and ultimately to kernel crashes. A typical call trace for the above situation will start with one of the following errors: refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory. refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. And will then have a trace like: Call Trace: ? show_regs+0x64/0x70 ? __warn+0x83/0x120 ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100 ? report_bug+0x158/0x190 ? prb_read_valid+0x20/0x30 ? handle_bug+0x3e/0x70 ? exc_invalid_op+0x1c/0x70 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1f/0x30 ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100 ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100 ax25_release+0x2ad/0x360 __sock_release+0x35/0xa0 sock_close+0x19/0x20 [...] On reboot (or any attempt to remove the interface), the kernel gets stuck in an infinite loop: unregister_netdevice: waiting for ax0 to become free. Usage count = 0 This patch corrects these issues by ensuring that we call netdev_hold() and ax25_dev_hold() for new connections in ax25_accept(). This makes the logic leading to ax25_accept() match the logic for ax25_bind(): in both cases we increment the refcount, which is ultimately decremented in ax25_release().

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2024-40910 since 07/12/2024. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/30/2024).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 207728 (SUSE SLES15 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2024:3408-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.1.95, 6.6.35 or 6.9.6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch f4df9d6c8d4e/52100fd74ad0/a723a6c8d483/3c34fb0bd4a4 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 (207728). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.0
• 6.1.1
• 6.1.2
• 6.1.3
• 6.1.4
• 6.1.5
• 6.1.6
• 6.1.7
• 6.1.8
• 6.1.9
• 6.1.10
• 6.1.11
• 6.1.12
• 6.1.13
• 6.1.14
• 6.1.15
• 6.1.16
• 6.1.17
• 6.1.18
• 6.1.19
• 6.1.20
• 6.1.21
• 6.1.22
• 6.1.23
• 6.1.24
• 6.1.25
• 6.1.26
• 6.1.27
• 6.1.28
• 6.1.29
• 6.1.30
• 6.1.31
• 6.1.32
• 6.1.33
• 6.1.34
• 6.1.35
• 6.1.36
• 6.1.37
• 6.1.38
• 6.1.39
• 6.1.40
• 6.1.41
• 6.1.42
• 6.1.43
• 6.1.44
• 6.1.45
• 6.1.46
• 6.1.47
• 6.1.48
• 6.1.49
• 6.1.50
• 6.1.51
• 6.1.52
• 6.1.53
• 6.1.54
• 6.1.55
• 6.1.56
• 6.1.57
• 6.1.58
• 6.1.59
• 6.1.60
• 6.1.61
• 6.1.62
• 6.1.63
• 6.1.64
• 6.1.65
• 6.1.66
• 6.1.67
• 6.1.68
• 6.1.69
• 6.1.70
• 6.1.71
• 6.1.72
• 6.1.73
• 6.1.74
• 6.1.75
• 6.1.76
• 6.1.77
• 6.1.78
• 6.1.79
• 6.1.80
• 6.1.81
• 6.1.82
• 6.1.83
• 6.1.84
• 6.1.85
• 6.1.86
• 6.1.87
• 6.1.88
• 6.1.89
• 6.1.90
• 6.1.91
• 6.1.92
• 6.1.93
• 6.1.94
• 6.6.0
• 6.6.1
• 6.6.2
• 6.6.3
• 6.6.4
• 6.6.5
• 6.6.6
• 6.6.7
• 6.6.8
• 6.6.9
• 6.6.10
• 6.6.11
• 6.6.12
• 6.6.13
• 6.6.14
• 6.6.15
• 6.6.16
• 6.6.17
• 6.6.18
• 6.6.19
• 6.6.20
• 6.6.21
• 6.6.22
• 6.6.23
• 6.6.24
• 6.6.25
• 6.6.26
• 6.6.27
• 6.6.28
• 6.6.29
• 6.6.30
• 6.6.31
• 6.6.32
• 6.6.33
• 6.6.34
• 6.9.0
• 6.9.1
• 6.9.2
• 6.9.3
• 6.9.4
• 6.9.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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