bpf: Track subprog poke descriptors correctly and fix use-after-free

Summary

CVECVE-2021-47303
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerLinux
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2024-05-21 15:15:18 UTC
Updated2026-08-04 10:16:57 UTC
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Track subprog poke descriptors correctly and fix use-after-free Subprograms are calling map_poke_track(), but on program release there is no hook to call map_poke_untrack(). However, on program release, the aux memory (and poke descriptor table) is freed even though we still have a reference to it in the element list of the map aux data. When we run map_poke_run(), we then end up accessing free'd memory, triggering KASAN in prog_array_map_poke_run(): [...] [ 402.824689] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in prog_array_map_poke_run+0xc2/0x34e [ 402.824698] Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881905a7940 by task hubble-fgs/4337 [ 402.824705] CPU: 1 PID: 4337 Comm: hubble-fgs Tainted: G I 5.12.0+ #399 [ 402.824715] Call Trace: [ 402.824719] dump_stack+0x93/0xc2 [ 402.824727] print_address_description.constprop.0+0x1a/0x140 [ 402.824736] ? prog_array_map_poke_run+0xc2/0x34e [ 402.824740] ? prog_array_map_poke_run+0xc2/0x34e [ 402.824744] kasan_report.cold+0x7c/0xd8 [ 402.824752] ? prog_array_map_poke_run+0xc2/0x34e [ 402.824757] prog_array_map_poke_run+0xc2/0x34e [ 402.824765] bpf_fd_array_map_update_elem+0x124/0x1a0 [...] The elements concerned are walked as follows: for (i = 0; i < elem->aux->size_poke_tab; i++) { poke = &elem->aux->poke_tab[i]; [...] The access to size_poke_tab is a 4 byte read, verified by checking offsets in the KASAN dump: [ 402.825004] The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff8881905a7800 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-1k of size 1024 [ 402.825008] The buggy address is located 320 bytes inside of 1024-byte region [ffff8881905a7800, ffff8881905a7c00) The pahole output of bpf_prog_aux: struct bpf_prog_aux { [...] /* --- cacheline 5 boundary (320 bytes) --- */ u32 size_poke_tab; /* 320 4 */ [...] In general, subprograms do not necessarily manage their own data structures. For example, BTF func_info and linfo are just pointers to the main program structure. This allows reference counting and cleanup to be done on the latter which simplifies their management a bit. The aux->poke_tab struct, however, did not follow this logic. The initial proposed fix for this use-after-free bug further embedded poke data tracking into the subprogram with proper reference counting. However, Daniel and Alexei questioned why we were treating these objects special; I agree, its unnecessary. The fix here removes the per subprogram poke table allocation and map tracking and instead simply points the aux->poke_tab pointer at the main programs poke table. This way, map tracking is simplified to the main program and we do not need to manage them per subprogram. This also means, bpf_prog_free_deferred(), which unwinds the program reference counting and kfrees objects, needs to ensure that we don't try to double free the poke_tab when free'ing the subprog structures. This is easily solved by NULL'ing the poke_tab pointer. The second detail is to ensure that per subprogram JIT logic only does fixups on poke_tab[] entries it owns. To do this, we add a pointer in the poke structure to point at the subprogram value so JITs can easily check while walking the poke_tab structure if the current entry belongs to the current program. The aux pointer is stable and therefore suitable for such comparison. On the jit_subprogs() error path, we omit cleaning up the poke->aux field because these are only ever referenced from the JIT side, but on error we will never make it to the JIT, so its fine to leave them dangling. Removing these pointers would complicate the error path for no reason. However, we do need to untrack all poke descriptors from the main program as otherwise they could race with the freeing of JIT memory from the subprograms. Lastly, a748c6975dea3 ("bpf: propagate poke des ---truncated---

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 7.8 HIGH from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Problem Types: CWE-416


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Primary7.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67Secondary7.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED7.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Operating System Linux Linux Kernel All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Linux Linux affected a748c6975dea325da540610c2ba9b5f332c603e6 a9f36bf3613c65cb587c70fac655c775d911409b git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected a748c6975dea325da540610c2ba9b5f332c603e6 599148d40366bd5d1d504a3a8fcd65e21107e500 git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected a748c6975dea325da540610c2ba9b5f332c603e6 f263a81451c12da5a342d90572e317e611846f2c git Not specified
CNA Linux Linux affected 5.10 Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 5.10 semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 5.10.53 5.10.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 5.13.5 5.13.* semver Not specified
CNA Linux Linux unaffected 5.14 * original_commit_for_fix Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9f36bf3613c65cb587c70fac655c775d911409b af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 git.kernel.org Patch
git.kernel.org/stable/c/f263a81451c12da5a342d90572e317e611846f2c af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 git.kernel.org Patch
git.kernel.org/stable/c/599148d40366bd5d1d504a3a8fcd65e21107e500 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 git.kernel.org Patch
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NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

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