In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fs/proc: fix uaf in proc_readdir_de() Pde is erased from subdir rbtree through rb_erase(), but not set the node to EMPTY, which may result in uaf access

Overview

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

fs/proc: fix uaf in proc_readdir_de()

Pde is erased from subdir rbtree through rb_erase(), but not set the node to EMPTY, which may result in uaf access. We should use RB_CLEAR_NODE() set the erased node to EMPTY, then pde_subdir_next() will return NULL to avoid uaf access.

We found an uaf issue while using stress-ng testing, need to run testcase getdent and tun in the same time. The steps of the issue is as follows:

1. use getdent to traverse dir /proc/pid/net/dev_snmp6/, and current pde is tun3;

2. in the [time windows] unregister netdevice tun3 and tun2, and erase them from rbtree. erase tun3 first, and then erase tun2. the pde(tun2) will be released to slab;

3. continue to getdent process, then pde_subdir_next() will return pde(tun2) which is released, it will case uaf access.

CPU 0 | CPU 1

traverse dir /proc/pid/net/dev_snmp6/ | unregister_netdevice(tun->dev) //tun3 tun2 sys_getdents64() | iterate_dir() | proc_readdir() | proc_readdir_de() | snmp6_unregister_dev() pde_get(de); | proc_remove() read_unlock(&proc_subdir_lock); | remove_proc_subtree() | write_lock(&proc_subdir_lock); [time window] | rb_erase(&root->subdir_node, &parent->subdir); | write_unlock(&proc_subdir_lock); read_lock(&proc_subdir_lock); | next = pde_subdir_next(de); | pde_put(de); | de = next; //UAF |

rbtree of dev_snmp6 | pde(tun3) /
NULL pde(tun2)

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.