CVE-2024-43837

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

bpf: Fix null pointer dereference in resolve_prog_type() for BPF_PROG_TYPE_EXT

When loading a EXT program without specifying attr->attach_prog_fd, the prog->aux->dst_prog will be null. At this time, calling resolve_prog_type() anywhere will result in a null pointer dereference.

Example stack trace:

[ 8.107863] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000004 [ 8.108262] Mem abort info: [ 8.108384] ESR = 0x0000000096000004 [ 8.108547] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 8.108722] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 8.108827] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 8.108939] FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault [ 8.109102] Data abort info: [ 8.109203] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000 [ 8.109399] CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 [ 8.109614] GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 [ 8.109836] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000101354000 [ 8.110011] [0000000000000004] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000 [ 8.112624] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] PREEMPT SMP [ 8.112783] Modules linked in: [ 8.113120] CPU: 0 PID: 99 Comm: may_access_dire Not tainted 6.10.0-rc3-next-20240613-dirty #1 [ 8.113230] Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) [ 8.113390] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=–) [ 8.113429] pc : may_access_direct_pkt_data+0x24/0xa0 [ 8.113746] lr : add_subprog_and_kfunc+0x634/0x8e8 [ 8.113798] sp : ffff80008283b9f0 [ 8.113813] x29: ffff80008283b9f0 x28: ffff800082795048 x27: 0000000000000001 [ 8.113881] x26: ffff0000c0bb2600 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: 0000000000000000 [ 8.113897] x23: ffff0000c1134000 x22: 000000000001864f x21: ffff0000c1138000 [ 8.113912] x20: 0000000000000001 x19: ffff0000c12b8000 x18: ffffffffffffffff [ 8.113929] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0720072007200720 [ 8.113944] x14: 0720072007200720 x13: 0720072007200720 x12: 0720072007200720 [ 8.113958] x11: 0720072007200720 x10: 0000000000f9fca4 x9 : ffff80008021f4e4 [ 8.113991] x8 : 0101010101010101 x7 : 746f72705f6d656d x6 : 000000001e0e0f5f [ 8.114006] x5 : 000000000001864f x4 : ffff0000c12b8000 x3 : 000000000000001c [ 8.114020] x2 : 0000000000000002 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 8.114126] Call trace: [ 8.114159] may_access_direct_pkt_data+0x24/0xa0 [ 8.114202] bpf_check+0x3bc/0x28c0 [ 8.114214] bpf_prog_load+0x658/0xa58 [ 8.114227] __sys_bpf+0xc50/0x2250 [ 8.114240] __arm64_sys_bpf+0x28/0x40 [ 8.114254] invoke_syscall.constprop.0+0x54/0xf0 [ 8.114273] do_el0_svc+0x4c/0xd8 [ 8.114289] el0_svc+0x3c/0x140 [ 8.114305] el0t_64_sync_handler+0x134/0x150 [ 8.114331] el0t_64_sync+0x168/0x170 [ 8.114477] Code: 7100707f 54000081 f9401c00 f9403800 (b9400403) [ 8.118672] —[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]—

One way to fix it is by forcing attach_prog_fd non-empty when bpf_prog_load(). But this will lead to libbpf_probe_bpf_prog_type API broken which use verifier log to probe prog type and will log nothing if we reject invalid EXT prog before bpf_check().

Another way is by adding null check in resolve_prog_type().

The issue was introduced by commit 4a9c7bbe2ed4 (bpf: Resolve to prog->aux->dst_prog->type only for BPF_PROG_TYPE_EXT) which wanted to correct type resolution for BPF_PROG_TYPE_TRACING programs. Before that, the type resolution of BPF_PROG_TYPE_EXT prog actually follows the logic below:

prog->aux->dst_prog ? prog->aux->dst_prog->type : prog->type;

It implies that when EXT program is not yet attached to dst_prog, the prog type should be EXT itself. This code worked fine in the past. So just keep using it.

Fix this by returning prog->type for BPF_PROG_TYPE_EXT if dst_prog is not present in resolve_prog_type().

Weakness

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.

Affected Software

Potential Mitigations

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d40fd516aeae6779e3c84c6b96700ca76285847
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b29a880bb145e1f1c1df5ab88ed26b1495ff9f09
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7866c35873377313ff94398f17d425b28b71de1
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fcac5feb06f31ee4c88bca9bf98d8bc3ca7d2615
• https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00001.html