CVE-2022-49540

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

rcu-tasks: Fix race in schedule and flush work

While booting secondary CPUs, cpus_read_[lock/unlock] is not keeping online cpumask stable. The transient online mask results in below calltrace.

[ 0.324121] CPU1: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000001 [0x410fd083] [ 0.346652] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU2 [ 0.347212] CPU2: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000002 [0x410fd083] [ 0.377255] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU3 [ 0.377823] CPU3: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000003 [0x410fd083] [ 0.379040] ————[ cut here ]———— [ 0.383662] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 10 at kernel/workqueue.c:3084 _flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.384850] Modules linked in: [ 0.385403] CPU: 0 PID: 10 Comm: rcu_tasks_rude Not tainted 5.17.0-rc3-v8+ #13 [ 0.386473] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4 (DT) [ 0.387289] pstate: 20000005 (nzCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=–) [ 0.388308] pc : __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.388970] lr : __flush_work+0x80/0x138 [ 0.389620] sp : ffffffc00aaf3c60 [ 0.390139] x29: ffffffc00aaf3d20 x28: ffffffc009c16af0 x27: ffffff80f761df48 [ 0.391316] x26: 0000000000000004 x25: 0000000000000003 x24: 0000000000000100 [ 0.392493] x23: ffffffffffffffff x22: ffffffc009c16b10 x21: ffffffc009c16b28 [ 0.393668] x20: ffffffc009e53861 x19: ffffff80f77fbf40 x18: 00000000d744fcc9 [ 0.394842] x17: 000000000000000b x16: 00000000000001c2 x15: ffffffc009e57550 [ 0.396016] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffffffffffffffff x12: 0000000100000000 [ 0.397190] x11: 0000000000000462 x10: ffffff8040258008 x9 : 0000000100000000 [ 0.398364] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : ffffffc0093c8bf4 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.399538] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : ffffffc00a976e40 x3 : ffffffc00810444c [ 0.400711] x2 : 0000000000000004 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.401886] Call trace: [ 0.402309] __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.402941] schedule_on_each_cpu+0x228/0x278 [ 0.403693] rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp+0x130/0x144 [ 0.404502] rcu_tasks_kthread+0x220/0x254 [ 0.405264] kthread+0x174/0x1ac [ 0.405837] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [ 0.406456] irq event stamp: 102 [ 0.406966] hardirqs last enabled at (101): [] _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x78/0xb4 [ 0.408304] hardirqs last disabled at (102): [] el1_dbg+0x24/0x5c [ 0.409410] softirqs last enabled at (54): [] local_bh_enable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.410645] softirqs last disabled at (50): [] local_bh_disable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.411890] —[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]— [ 0.413000] smp: Brought up 1 node, 4 CPUs [ 0.413762] SMP: Total of 4 processors activated. [ 0.414566] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL0 Support [ 0.415414] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL1 Support [ 0.416278] CPU features: detected: CRC32 instructions [ 0.447021] Callback from call_rcu_tasks_rude() invoked. [ 0.506693] Callback from call_rcu_tasks() invoked.

This commit therefore fixes this issue by applying a single-CPU optimization to the RCU Tasks Rude grace-period process. The key point here is that the purpose of this RCU flavor is to force a schedule on each online CPU since some past event. But the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function runs in the context of the RCU Tasks Rudes grace-period kthread, so there must already have been a context switch on the current CPU since the call to either synchronize_rcu_tasks_rude() or call_rcu_tasks_rude(). So if there is only a single CPU online, RCU Tasks Rudes grace-period kthread does not need to anything at all.

It turns out that the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() functions call to schedule_on_each_cpu() causes problems during early boot. During that time, there is only one online CPU, namely the boot CPU. Therefore, applying this single-CPU optimization fixes early-boot instances of this problem.

Weakness

The product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently.

Affected Software

Extended Description

A race condition occurs within concurrent environments, and it is effectively a property of a code sequence. Depending on the context, a code sequence may be in the form of a function call, a small number of instructions, a series of program invocations, etc. A race condition violates these properties, which are closely related:

A race condition exists when an “interfering code sequence” can still access the shared resource, violating exclusivity. The interfering code sequence could be “trusted” or “untrusted.” A trusted interfering code sequence occurs within the product; it cannot be modified by the attacker, and it can only be invoked indirectly. An untrusted interfering code sequence can be authored directly by the attacker, and typically it is external to the vulnerable product.

Potential Mitigations

• Minimize the usage of shared resources in order to remove as much complexity as possible from the control flow and to reduce the likelihood of unexpected conditions occurring.
• Additionally, this will minimize the amount of synchronization necessary and may even help to reduce the likelihood of a denial of service where an attacker may be able to repeatedly trigger a critical section (CWE-400).

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/26.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/29.html

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c6c3f2336642fb3074593911f5176565f47ec41
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/230bf5878af6038dfb63d9184272a58475236580
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f49a8758b5cd541bd7aa9a0d0d11c7426141c0e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba722d061bc4b54802d701fc63fc2fd988934603
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f75fd4b9221d93177c50dcfde671b2e907f53e86