NULL Pointer Dereference Affecting kernel-debug-uki-virt package, versions <0:5.14.0-503.11.1.el9_5


Severity

Recommended
0.0
medium
0
10

Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.04% (12th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-RHEL9-KERNELDEBUGUKIVIRT-7312176
  • published21 Jun 2024
  • disclosed19 Jun 2024

Introduced: 19 Jun 2024

CVE-2024-38605  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-476  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade RHEL:9 kernel-debug-uki-virt to version 0:5.14.0-503.11.1.el9_5 or higher.
This issue was patched in RHSA-2024:9315.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-debug-uki-virt package and not the kernel-debug-uki-virt package as distributed by RHEL. See How to fix? for RHEL:9 relevant fixed versions and status.

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

ALSA: core: Fix NULL module pointer assignment at card init

The commit 81033c6b584b ("ALSA: core: Warn on empty module") introduced a WARN_ON() for a NULL module pointer passed at snd_card object creation, and it also wraps the code around it with '#ifdef MODULE'. This works in most cases, but the devils are always in details. "MODULE" is defined when the target code (i.e. the sound core) is built as a module; but this doesn't mean that the caller is also built-in or not. Namely, when only the sound core is built-in (CONFIG_SND=y) while the driver is a module (CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO=m), the passed module pointer is ignored even if it's non-NULL, and card->module remains as NULL. This would result in the missing module reference up/down at the device open/close, leading to a race with the code execution after the module removal.

For addressing the bug, move the assignment of card->module again out of ifdef. The WARN_ON() is still wrapped with ifdef because the module can be really NULL when all sound drivers are built-in.

Note that we keep 'ifdef MODULE' for WARN_ON(), otherwise it would lead to a false-positive NULL module check. Admittedly it won't catch perfectly, i.e. no check is performed when CONFIG_SND=y. But, it's no real problem as it's only for debugging, and the condition is pretty rare.

CVSS Scores

version 3.1