// For flags

CVE-2021-47069

ipc/mqueue, msg, sem: avoid relying on a stack reference past its expiry

Severity Score

5.5
*CVSS v3.1

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

0
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

Track
*SSVC
Descriptions

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ipc/mqueue, msg, sem: avoid relying on a stack reference past its expiry

do_mq_timedreceive calls wq_sleep with a stack local address. The
sender (do_mq_timedsend) uses this address to later call pipelined_send.

This leads to a very hard to trigger race where a do_mq_timedreceive
call might return and leave do_mq_timedsend to rely on an invalid
address, causing the following crash:

RIP: 0010:wake_q_add_safe+0x13/0x60
Call Trace:
__x64_sys_mq_timedsend+0x2a9/0x490
do_syscall_64+0x80/0x680
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9
RIP: 0033:0x7f5928e40343

The race occurs as:

1. do_mq_timedreceive calls wq_sleep with the address of `struct
ext_wait_queue` on function stack (aliased as `ewq_addr` here) - it
holds a valid `struct ext_wait_queue *` as long as the stack has not
been overwritten.

2. `ewq_addr` gets added to info->e_wait_q[RECV].list in wq_add, and
do_mq_timedsend receives it via wq_get_first_waiter(info, RECV) to call
__pipelined_op.

3. Sender calls __pipelined_op::smp_store_release(&this->state,
STATE_READY). Here is where the race window begins. (`this` is
`ewq_addr`.)

4. If the receiver wakes up now in do_mq_timedreceive::wq_sleep, it
will see `state == STATE_READY` and break.

5. do_mq_timedreceive returns, and `ewq_addr` is no longer guaranteed
to be a `struct ext_wait_queue *` since it was on do_mq_timedreceive's
stack. (Although the address may not get overwritten until another
function happens to touch it, which means it can persist around for an
indefinite time.)

6. do_mq_timedsend::__pipelined_op() still believes `ewq_addr` is a
`struct ext_wait_queue *`, and uses it to find a task_struct to pass to
the wake_q_add_safe call. In the lucky case where nothing has
overwritten `ewq_addr` yet, `ewq_addr->task` is the right task_struct.
In the unlucky case, __pipelined_op::wake_q_add_safe gets handed a
bogus address as the receiver's task_struct causing the crash.

do_mq_timedsend::__pipelined_op() should not dereference `this` after
setting STATE_READY, as the receiver counterpart is now free to return.
Change __pipelined_op to call wake_q_add_safe on the receiver's
task_struct returned by get_task_struct, instead of dereferencing `this`
which sits on the receiver's stack.

As Manfred pointed out, the race potentially also exists in
ipc/msg.c::expunge_all and ipc/sem.c::wake_up_sem_queue_prepare. Fix
those in the same way.

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel’s IPC system. This flaw allows an attacker to use a specially crafted program to cause a rare race condition, leading to a denial of service.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:Track
Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Tech. Impact
Partial
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2024-02-29 CVE Reserved
  • 2024-03-01 CVE Published
  • 2024-03-02 EPSS Updated
  • 2024-08-04 CVE Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
  • CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 5.6 < 5.10.40
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 5.6 < 5.10.40"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 5.6 < 5.12.7
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 5.6 < 5.12.7"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
>= 5.6 < 5.13
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 5.6 < 5.13"
en
Affected