CVE-2021-47541

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

net/mlx4_en: Fix an use-after-free bug in mlx4_en_try_alloc_resources()

In mlx4_en_try_alloc_resources(), mlx4_en_copy_priv() is called and tmp->tx_cq will be freed on the error path of mlx4_en_copy_priv(). After that mlx4_en_alloc_resources() is called and there is a dereference of &tmp->tx_cq[t][i] in mlx4_en_alloc_resources(), which could lead to a use after free problem on failure of mlx4_en_copy_priv().

Fix this bug by adding a check of mlx4_en_copy_priv()

This bug was found by a static analyzer. The analysis employs differential checking to identify inconsistent security operations (e.g., checks or kfrees) between two code paths and confirms that the inconsistent operations are not recovered in the current function or the callers, so they constitute bugs.

Note that, as a bug found by static analysis, it can be a false positive or hard to trigger. Multiple researchers have cross-reviewed the bug.

Builds with CONFIG_MLX4_EN=m show no new warnings, and our static analyzer no longer warns about this code.

Weakness

Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code.

Affected Software

Extended Description

The use of previously-freed memory can have any number of adverse consequences, ranging from the corruption of valid data to the execution of arbitrary code, depending on the instantiation and timing of the flaw. The simplest way data corruption may occur involves the system’s reuse of the freed memory. Use-after-free errors have two common and sometimes overlapping causes:

In this scenario, the memory in question is allocated to another pointer validly at some point after it has been freed. The original pointer to the freed memory is used again and points to somewhere within the new allocation. As the data is changed, it corrupts the validly used memory; this induces undefined behavior in the process. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

Potential Mitigations

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/676dc7d9b15bf8733233a2db1ec3f9091ab34275
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75917372eef0dbfb290ae45474314d35f97aea18
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/addad7643142f500080417dd7272f49b7a185570
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be12572c5ddc8ad7453bada4eec8fa46967dc757
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e461a9816a1ac5b4aeb61621b817225b61e46a68
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f1d43efa59f1edd3e7eca0e94559b4c6b1cd4e2b