NULL Pointer Dereference Affecting kernel-modules-extra package, versions <0:4.18.0-477.74.1.el8_8


Severity

Recommended
high

Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.05% (18th percentile)

Do your applications use this vulnerable package?

In a few clicks we can analyze your entire application and see what components are vulnerable in your application, and suggest you quick fixes.

Test your applications
  • Snyk IDSNYK-RHEL8-KERNELMODULESEXTRA-8086041
  • published24 Sept 2024
  • disclosed21 May 2024

Introduced: 21 May 2024

CVE-2023-52811  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-476  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade RHEL:8 kernel-modules-extra to version 0:4.18.0-477.74.1.el8_8 or higher.
This issue was patched in RHSA-2024:6993.

NVD Description

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

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

scsi: ibmvfc: Remove BUG_ON in the case of an empty event pool

In practice the driver should never send more commands than are allocated to a queue's event pool. In the unlikely event that this happens, the code asserts a BUG_ON, and in the case that the kernel is not configured to crash on panic returns a junk event pointer from the empty event list causing things to spiral from there. This BUG_ON is a historical artifact of the ibmvfc driver first being upstreamed, and it is well known now that the use of BUG_ON is bad practice except in the most unrecoverable scenario. There is nothing about this scenario that prevents the driver from recovering and carrying on.

Remove the BUG_ON in question from ibmvfc_get_event() and return a NULL pointer in the case of an empty event pool. Update all call sites to ibmvfc_get_event() to check for a NULL pointer and perfrom the appropriate failure or recovery action.

CVSS Scores

version 3.1