CVE-2023-52562

MEDIUM

Linux Kernel - Use-After-Free in Slab Cache Destruction

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/slab_common: fix slab_caches list corruption after kmem_cache_destroy() After the commit in Fixes:, if a module that created a slab cache does not release all of its allocated objects before destroying the cache (at rmmod time), we might end up releasing the kmem_cache object without removing it from the slab_caches list thus corrupting the list as kmem_cache_destroy() ignores the return value from shutdown_cache(), which in turn never removes the kmem_cache object from slabs_list in case __kmem_cache_shutdown() fails to release all of the cache's slabs. This is easily observable on a kernel built with CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST=y as after that ill release the system will immediately trip on list_add, or list_del, assertions similar to the one shown below as soon as another kmem_cache gets created, or destroyed: [ 1041.213632] list_del corruption. next->prev should be ffff89f596fb5768, but was 52f1e5016aeee75d. (next=ffff89f595a1b268) [ 1041.219165] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 1041.221517] kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:62! [ 1041.223452] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [ 1041.225408] CPU: 2 PID: 1852 Comm: rmmod Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B W OE 6.5.0 #15 [ 1041.228244] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS edk2-20230524-3.fc37 05/24/2023 [ 1041.231212] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid+0xae/0xb0 Another quick way to trigger this issue, in a kernel with CONFIG_SLUB=y, is to set slub_debug to poison the released objects and then just run cat /proc/slabinfo after removing the module that leaks slab objects, in which case the kernel will panic: [ 50.954843] general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xa56b6b6b6b6b6b8b: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI [ 50.961545] CPU: 2 PID: 1495 Comm: cat Kdump: loaded Tainted: G B W OE 6.5.0 #15 [ 50.966808] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS edk2-20230524-3.fc37 05/24/2023 [ 50.972663] RIP: 0010:get_slabinfo+0x42/0xf0 This patch fixes this issue by properly checking shutdown_cache()'s return value before taking the kmem_cache_release() branch.

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0022
EPSS Percentile 12.9%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact partial

Details

Status published
Products (14)
linux/Kernel 6.0.0 - 6.1.56linux
linux/Kernel 6.2.0 - 6.5.6linux
Linux/Linux < 6.0
Linux/Linux 0495e337b7039191dfce6e03f5f830454b1fae6b - 46a9ea6681907a3be6b6b0d43776dccc62cad6cf
Linux/Linux 0495e337b7039191dfce6e03f5f830454b1fae6b - 51988be187b041e5355245957b0b9751fa382e0d
Linux/Linux 0495e337b7039191dfce6e03f5f830454b1fae6b - a5569bb187521432f509b69dda7d29f78b2d38b0
Linux/Linux 357321557920c805de2b14832002465c320eea4f
Linux/Linux 5.19.8 - 5.20
Linux/Linux 6.0
Linux/Linux 6.1.56 - 6.1.*
... and 4 more
Published Mar 02, 2024
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026