// For flags

CVE-2024-40974

powerpc/pseries: Enforce hcall result buffer validity and size

Severity Score

6.6
*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:

powerpc/pseries: Enforce hcall result buffer validity and size

plpar_hcall(), plpar_hcall9(), and related functions expect callers to
provide valid result buffers of certain minimum size. Currently this
is communicated only through comments in the code and the compiler has
no idea.

For example, if I write a bug like this:

long retbuf[PLPAR_HCALL_BUFSIZE]; // should be PLPAR_HCALL9_BUFSIZE
plpar_hcall9(H_ALLOCATE_VAS_WINDOW, retbuf, ...);

This compiles with no diagnostics emitted, but likely results in stack
corruption at runtime when plpar_hcall9() stores results past the end
of the array. (To be clear this is a contrived example and I have not
found a real instance yet.)

To make this class of error less likely, we can use explicitly-sized
array parameters instead of pointers in the declarations for the hcall
APIs. When compiled with -Warray-bounds[1], the code above now
provokes a diagnostic like this:

error: array argument is too small;
is of size 32, callee requires at least 72 [-Werror,-Warray-bounds]
60 | plpar_hcall9(H_ALLOCATE_VAS_WINDOW, retbuf,
| ^ ~~~~~~

[1] Enabled for LLVM builds but not GCC for now. See commit
0da6e5fd6c37 ("gcc: disable '-Warray-bounds' for gcc-13 too") and
related changes.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
High
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:Track
Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Tech. Impact
Partial
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2024-07-12 CVE Reserved
  • 2024-07-12 CVE Published
  • 2024-07-13 EPSS Updated
  • 2024-09-11 CVE Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
  • CWE-119: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
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
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< 4.19.317
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 4.19.317"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 5.4.279
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 5.4.279"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 5.10.221
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 5.10.221"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 5.15.162
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 5.15.162"
en
Affected
Linux
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Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 6.1.96
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 6.1.96"
en
Affected
Linux
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Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 6.6.36
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 6.6.36"
en
Affected
Linux
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Linux Kernel
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< 6.9.7
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en
Affected
Linux
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Linux Kernel
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< 6.10
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en
Affected