CVE-2024-50099: arm64: probes: Remove broken LDR (literal) uprobe support

Published Nov 5, 2024
·
Updated

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

arm64: probes: Remove broken LDR (literal) uprobe support

The simulateldrliteral() and simulateldrswliteral() functions are unsafe to use for uprobes. Both functions were originally written for use with kprobes, and access memory with plain C accesses. When uprobes was added, these were reused unmodified even though they cannot safely access user memory.

There are three key problems:

1) The plain C accesses do not have corresponding extable entries, and thus if they encounter a fault the kernel will treat these as unintentional accesses to user memory, resulting in a BUG() which will kill the kernel thread, and likely lead to further issues (e.g. lockup or panic()).

2) The plain C accesses are subject to HW PAN and SW PAN, and so when either is in use, any attempt to simulate an access to user memory will fault. Thus neither simulateldrliteral() nor simulateldrswliteral() can do anything useful when simulating a user instruction on any system with HW PAN or SW PAN.

3) The plain C accesses are privileged, as they run in kernel context, and in practice can access a small range of kernel virtual addresses. The instructions they simulate have a range of +/-1MiB, and since the simulated instructions must itself be a user instructions in the TTBR0 address range, these can address the final 1MiB of the TTBR1 acddress range by wrapping downwards from an address in the first 1MiB of the TTBR0 address range.

In contemporary kernels the last 8MiB of TTBR1 address range is reserved, and accesses to this will always fault, meaning this is no worse than (1).

Historically, it was theoretically possible for the linear map or vmemmap to spill into the final 8MiB of the TTBR1 address range, but in practice this is extremely unlikely to occur as this would require either:

Having enough physical memory to fill the entire linear map all the way to the final 1MiB of the TTBR1 address range.

Getting unlucky with KASLR randomization of the linear map such that the populated region happens to overlap with the last 1MiB of the TTBR address range.

... and in either case if we were to spill into the final page there would be larger problems as the final page would alias with error pointers.

Practically speaking, (1) and (2) are the big issues. Given there have been no reports of problems since the broken code was introduced, it appears that no-one is relying on probing these instructions with uprobes.

Avoid these issues by not allowing uprobes on LDR (literal) and LDRSW (literal), limiting the use of simulateldrliteral() and simulateldrswliteral() to kprobes. Attempts to place uprobes on LDR (literal) and LDRSW (literal) will be rejected as armprobedecodeinsn() will return INSNREJECTED. In future we can consider introducing working uprobes support for these instructions, but this will require more significant work.

Other sources

This CVE was automatically created from a reference found in an email or other text. If you are reading this, then this CVE entry is probably erroneous, since this text should be replaced by the official CVE description automatically.

Launchpad

Affected Software

12 affected componentsFixes available
Linux Linux kernel>=4.10<4.19.323
Linux Linux kernel>=4.20<5.4.285
Linux Linux kernel>=5.5<5.10.228
Linux Linux kernel>=5.11<5.15.169
Linux Linux kernel>=5.16<6.1.114
Linux Linux kernel>=6.2<6.6.58
Linux Linux kernel>=6.7<6.11.5
Linux Linux kernel=6.12-rc1
Linux Linux kernel=6.12-rc2
Linux Linux kernel=6.12-rc3
debian/linux<=5.10.223-1
5.10.234-16.1.129-16.1.135-16.12.25-16.12.27-1
debian/linux-6.1
6.1.129-1~deb11u1

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/linux to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 5.10.234-1Fixed in 6.1.129-1Fixed in 6.1.135-1Fixed in 6.12.25-1Fixed in 6.12.27-1
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/linux-6.1 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 6.1.129-1~deb11u1

Event History

Nov 5, 2024
CVE Published
via MITRE·05:07 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·05:07 PM
DescriptionSeverity
Data Sourced
via Red Hat·06:01 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Rejected
via NVD·06:15 PM
Data Sourced
via NVD·06:15 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Nov 12, 2024
Rejected
via NVD·04:28 PM
Feb 20, 2025
Data Sourced
via Launchpad·12:44 AM
Description
May 3, 2025
Data Sourced
via Ubuntu·01:01 AM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Aug 4, 2026
Rejected
via NVD·11:21 AM
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2024-50099?

CVE-2024-50099 is categorized as a medium severity vulnerability due to its potential impact on system integrity.

2

How do I fix CVE-2024-50099?

To mitigate CVE-2024-50099, users should update their Linux Kernel to the latest stable version that addresses this vulnerability.

3

What versions of Linux Kernel are affected by CVE-2024-50099?

CVE-2024-50099 affects Linux Kernel versions from 4.10 to 6.12-rc3.

4

What type of issue does CVE-2024-50099 address?

CVE-2024-50099 addresses an issue with unsafe uprobe support in specific functions of the Linux Kernel.

5

Is CVE-2024-50099 related to any specific Linux Kernel components?

CVE-2024-50099 is specifically related to the arm64 architecture and its handling of LDR (literal) uprobes.

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