Resource Leak Affecting kernel-rt package, versions <0:4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10


Severity

Recommended
high

Based on CentOS security rating

    Threat Intelligence

    EPSS
    0.05% (17th percentile)

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  • Snyk ID SNYK-CENTOS8-KERNELRT-7228953
  • published 9 Jun 2024
  • disclosed 21 May 2024

How to fix?

Upgrade Centos:8 kernel-rt to version 0:4.18.0-553.16.1.rt7.357.el8_10 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-rt package and not the kernel-rt package as distributed by Centos. See How to fix? for Centos:8 relevant fixed versions and status.

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

tcp: fix tcp_init_transfer() to not reset icsk_ca_initialized

This commit fixes a bug (found by syzkaller) that could cause spurious double-initializations for congestion control modules, which could cause memory leaks or other problems for congestion control modules (like CDG) that allocate memory in their init functions.

The buggy scenario constructed by syzkaller was something like:

(1) create a TCP socket (2) initiate a TFO connect via sendto() (3) while socket is in TCP_SYN_SENT, call setsockopt(TCP_CONGESTION), which calls: tcp_set_congestion_control() -> tcp_reinit_congestion_control() -> tcp_init_congestion_control() (4) receive ACK, connection is established, call tcp_init_transfer(), set icsk_ca_initialized=0 (without first calling cc->release()), call tcp_init_congestion_control() again.

Note that in this sequence tcp_init_congestion_control() is called twice without a cc->release() call in between. Thus, for CC modules that allocate memory in their init() function, e.g, CDG, a memory leak may occur. The syzkaller tool managed to find a reproducer that triggered such a leak in CDG.

The bug was introduced when that commit 8919a9b31eb4 ("tcp: Only init congestion control if not initialized already") introduced icsk_ca_initialized and set icsk_ca_initialized to 0 in tcp_init_transfer(), missing the possibility for a sequence like the one above, where a process could call setsockopt(TCP_CONGESTION) in state TCP_SYN_SENT (i.e. after the connect() or TFO open sendmsg()), which would call tcp_init_congestion_control(). It did not intend to reset any initialization that the user had already explicitly made; it just missed the possibility of that particular sequence (which syzkaller managed to find).

CVSS Scores

version 3.1
Expand this section

Red Hat

5.5 medium
  • Attack Vector (AV)
    Local
  • Attack Complexity (AC)
    Low
  • Privileges Required (PR)
    Low
  • User Interaction (UI)
    None
  • Scope (S)
    Unchanged
  • Confidentiality (C)
    None
  • Integrity (I)
    None
  • Availability (A)
    High