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

mm/vmalloc: fix data race in show_numa_info()

The following data-race was found in show_numa_info():

================================================================== BUG: KCSAN: data-race in vmalloc_info_show / vmalloc_info_show

read to 0xffff88800971fe30 of 4 bytes by task 8289 on cpu 0: show_numa_info mm/vmalloc.c:4936 [inline] vmalloc_info_show+0x5a8/0x7e0 mm/vmalloc.c:5016 seq_read_iter+0x373/0xb40 fs/seq_file.c:230 proc_reg_read_iter+0x11e/0x170 fs/proc/inode.c:299 ….

write to 0xffff88800971fe30 of 4 bytes by task 8287 on cpu 1: show_numa_info mm/vmalloc.c:4934 [inline] vmalloc_info_show+0x38f/0x7e0 mm/vmalloc.c:5016 seq_read_iter+0x373/0xb40 fs/seq_file.c:230 proc_reg_read_iter+0x11e/0x170 fs/proc/inode.c:299 ….

value changed: 0x0000008f -> 0x00000000

According to this report,there is a read/write data-race because m->private is accessible to multiple CPUs. To fix this, instead of allocating the heap in proc_vmalloc_init() and passing the heap address to m->private, vmalloc_info_show() should allocate the heap.

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/5c5f0468d172ddec2e333d738d2a1f85402cf0bc
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c966f447a584ece3c70395898231aeb56256ee7
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ead91de35d9cd5c4f80ec51e6020f342079170af