CVE-2023-4623

A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernels net/sched: sch_hfsc (HFSC qdisc traffic control) component can be exploited to achieve local privilege escalation.

If a class with a link-sharing curve (i.e. with the HFSC_FSC flag set) has a parent without a link-sharing curve, then init_vf() will call vttree_insert() on the parent, but vttree_remove() will be skipped in update_vf(). This leaves a dangling pointer that can cause a use-after-free.

We recommend upgrading past commit b3d26c5702c7d6c45456326e56d2ccf3f103e60f.

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

• http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/175963/Kernel-Live-Patch-Security-Notice-LSN-0099-1.html
• https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b3d26c5702c7d6c45456326e56d2ccf3f103e60f
• https://kernel.dance/b3d26c5702c7d6c45456326e56d2ccf3f103e60f
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/10/msg00027.html
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/01/msg00004.html