Linux Kernel up to 6.11.2 /proc/iomem region_intersects permission

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.11.2 and classified as critical. This affects the function region_intersects of the file /proc/iomem. Performing a manipulation results in permission. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2024-49878. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.11.2. This affects the function region_intersects of the file /proc/iomem. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a permission vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-275. 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: resource: fix region_intersects() vs add_memory_driver_managed() On a system with CXL memory, the resource tree (/proc/iomem) related to CXL memory may look like something as follows. 490000000-50fffffff : CXL Window 0 490000000-50fffffff : region0 490000000-50fffffff : dax0.0 490000000-50fffffff : System RAM (kmem) Because drivers/dax/kmem.c calls add_memory_driver_managed() during onlining CXL memory, which makes "System RAM (kmem)" a descendant of "CXL Window X". This confuses region_intersects(), which expects all "System RAM" resources to be at the top level of iomem_resource. This can lead to bugs. For example, when the following command line is executed to write some memory in CXL memory range via /dev/mem, $ dd if=data of=/dev/mem bs=$((1 > 10)) count=1 dd: error writing '/dev/mem': Bad address 1+0 records in 0+0 records out 0 bytes copied, 0.0283507 s, 0.0 kB/s the command fails as expected. However, the error code is wrong. It should be "Operation not permitted" instead of "Bad address". More seriously, the /dev/mem permission checking in devmem_is_allowed() passes incorrectly. Although the accessing is prevented later because ioremap() isn't allowed to map system RAM, it is a potential security issue. During command executing, the following warning is reported in the kernel log for calling ioremap() on system RAM. ioremap on RAM at 0x0000000490000000 - 0x0000000490000fff WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 416 at arch/x86/mm/ioremap.c:216 __ioremap_caller.constprop.0+0x131/0x35d Call Trace: memremap+0xcb/0x184 xlate_dev_mem_ptr+0x25/0x2f write_mem+0x94/0xfb vfs_write+0x128/0x26d ksys_write+0xac/0xfe do_syscall_64+0x9a/0xfd entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 The details of command execution process are as follows. In the above resource tree, "System RAM" is a descendant of "CXL Window 0" instead of a top level resource. So, region_intersects() will report no System RAM resources in the CXL memory region incorrectly, because it only checks the top level resources. Consequently, devmem_is_allowed() will return 1 (allow access via /dev/mem) for CXL memory region incorrectly. Fortunately, ioremap() doesn't allow to map System RAM and reject the access. So, region_intersects() needs to be fixed to work correctly with the resource tree with "System RAM" not at top level as above. To fix it, if we found a unmatched resource in the top level, we will continue to search matched resources in its descendant resources. So, we will not miss any matched resources in resource tree anymore. In the new implementation, an example resource tree |------------- "CXL Window 0" ------------| |-- "System RAM" --| will behave similar as the following fake resource tree for region_intersects(, IORESOURCE_SYSTEM_RAM, ), |-- "System RAM" --||-- "CXL Window 0a" --| Where "CXL Window 0a" is part of the original "CXL Window 0" that isn't covered by "System RAM".

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2024-49878 since 10/21/2024. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/19/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1222 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 212843 (CBL Mariner 2.0 Security Update: kernel (CVE-2024-49878)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.10.227, 5.15.168, 6.1.113, 6.6.55, 6.10.14 or 6.11.3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 1d5f85f1b7db/8a6fef7d22a1/4b90d2eb451b/393331e16ce2/06ff97a20b8c/927abc5b7d6d/b4afe4183ec7 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 databases at Tenable (212843) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2024-3251). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• NetApp StorageGRID
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• Kyocera Printer
• NetApp AFF
• NetApp ActiveIQ Unified Manager
• SUSE openSUSE
• IBM Security Guardium
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Dell NetWorker
• Dell Avamar
• IBM QRadar SIEM
• NetApp FAS
• SolarWinds Security Event Manager
• Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• Dell PowerScale OneFS

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.226
• 5.15.167
• 6.1.112
• 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
• 6.6.35
• 6.6.36
• 6.6.37
• 6.6.38
• 6.6.39
• 6.6.40
• 6.6.41
• 6.6.42
• 6.6.43
• 6.6.44
• 6.6.45
• 6.6.46
• 6.6.47
• 6.6.48
• 6.6.49
• 6.6.50
• 6.6.51
• 6.6.52
• 6.6.53
• 6.6.54
• 6.10.0
• 6.10.1
• 6.10.2
• 6.10.3
• 6.10.4
• 6.10.5
• 6.10.6
• 6.10.7
• 6.10.8
• 6.10.9
• 6.10.10
• 6.10.11
• 6.10.12
• 6.10.13
• 6.11.0
• 6.11.1
• 6.11.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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