CVE-2024-36001

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

netfs: Fix the pre-flush when appending to a file in writethrough mode

In netfs_perform_write(), when the file is marked NETFS_ICTX_WRITETHROUGH or O_*SYNC or RWF_*SYNC was specified, write-through caching is performed on a buffered file. When setting up for write-through, we flush any conflicting writes in the region and wait for the write to complete, failing if theres a write error to return.

The issue arises if were writing at or above the EOF position because we skip the flush and - more importantly - the wait. This becomes a problem if theres a partial folio at the end of the file that is being written out and we want to make a write to it too. Both the already-running write and the write we start both want to clear the writeback mark, but whoever is second causes a warning looking something like:

------------[ cut here ]------------
R=00000012: folio 11 is not under writeback
WARNING: CPU: 34 PID: 654 at fs/netfs/write_collect.c:105
...
CPU: 34 PID: 654 Comm: kworker/u386:27 Tainted: G S ...
...
Workqueue: events_unbound netfs_write_collection_worker
...
RIP: 0010:netfs_writeback_lookup_folio

Fix this by making the flush-and-wait unconditional. It will do nothing if there are no folios in the pagecache and will return quickly if there are no folios in the region specified.

Further, move the WBC attachment above the flush call as the flush is going to attach a WBC and detach it again if it is not present - and since we need one anyway we might as well share it.

Weakness

The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

• Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

• For example, many languages that perform their own memory management, such as Java and Perl, are not subject to buffer overflows. Other languages, such as Ada and C#, typically provide overflow protection, but the protection can be disabled by the programmer.

• Be wary that a language’s interface to native code may still be subject to overflows, even if the language itself is theoretically safe.

• Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.

• Examples include the Safe C String Library (SafeStr) by Messier and Viega [REF-57], and the Strsafe.h library from Microsoft [REF-56]. These libraries provide safer versions of overflow-prone string-handling functions.

• Use automatic buffer overflow detection mechanisms that are offered by certain compilers or compiler extensions. Examples include: the Microsoft Visual Studio /GS flag, Fedora/Red Hat FORTIFY_SOURCE GCC flag, StackGuard, and ProPolice, which provide various mechanisms including canary-based detection and range/index checking.

• D3-SFCV (Stack Frame Canary Validation) from D3FEND [REF-1334] discusses canary-based detection in detail.

• Consider adhering to the following rules when allocating and managing an application’s memory:

• Run or compile the software using features or extensions that randomly arrange the positions of a program’s executable and libraries in memory. Because this makes the addresses unpredictable, it can prevent an attacker from reliably jumping to exploitable code.

• Examples include Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) [REF-58] [REF-60] and Position-Independent Executables (PIE) [REF-64]. Imported modules may be similarly realigned if their default memory addresses conflict with other modules, in a process known as “rebasing” (for Windows) and “prelinking” (for Linux) [REF-1332] using randomly generated addresses. ASLR for libraries cannot be used in conjunction with prelink since it would require relocating the libraries at run-time, defeating the whole purpose of prelinking.

• For more information on these techniques see D3-SAOR (Segment Address Offset Randomization) from D3FEND [REF-1335].

• Use a CPU and operating system that offers Data Execution Protection (using hardware NX or XD bits) or the equivalent techniques that simulate this feature in software, such as PaX [REF-60] [REF-61]. These techniques ensure that any instruction executed is exclusively at a memory address that is part of the code segment.

• For more information on these techniques see D3-PSEP (Process Segment Execution Prevention) from D3FEND [REF-1336].

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5eaf23b2e81349f6614f88396dc468fda89fc0b9
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c97f59e276d4e93480f29a70accbd0d7273cf3f5
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5eaf23b2e81349f6614f88396dc468fda89fc0b9
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c97f59e276d4e93480f29a70accbd0d7273cf3f5