Improper Input Validation Affecting kernel-rt package, versions *


Severity

Recommended
0.0
medium
0
10

Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.04% (6th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-RHEL7-KERNELRT-8746138
  • published25 Feb 2025
  • disclosed12 Feb 2025

Introduced: 12 Feb 2025

NewCVE-2024-57951  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-20  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

There is no fixed version for RHEL:7 kernel-rt.

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 RHEL. See How to fix? for RHEL:7 relevant fixed versions and status.

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

hrtimers: Handle CPU state correctly on hotplug

Consider a scenario where a CPU transitions from CPUHP_ONLINE to halfway through a CPU hotunplug down to CPUHP_HRTIMERS_PREPARE, and then back to CPUHP_ONLINE:

Since hrtimers_prepare_cpu() does not run, cpu_base.hres_active remains set to 1 throughout. However, during a CPU unplug operation, the tick and the clockevents are shut down at CPUHP_AP_TICK_DYING. On return to the online state, for instance CFS incorrectly assumes that the hrtick is already active, and the chance of the clockevent device to transition to oneshot mode is also lost forever for the CPU, unless it goes back to a lower state than CPUHP_HRTIMERS_PREPARE once.

This round-trip reveals another issue; cpu_base.online is not set to 1 after the transition, which appears as a WARN_ON_ONCE in enqueue_hrtimer().

Aside of that, the bulk of the per CPU state is not reset either, which means there are dangling pointers in the worst case.

Address this by adding a corresponding startup() callback, which resets the stale per CPU state and sets the online flag.

[ tglx: Make the new callback unconditionally available, remove the online modification in the prepare() callback and clear the remaining state in the starting callback instead of the prepare callback ]

CVSS Scores

version 3.1