CVE-2024-49861
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix helper writes to read-only maps Lonial found an issue that despite user- and BPF-side frozen BPF map (like in case of .rodata), it was still possible to write into it from a…
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.23%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix helper writes to read-only maps Lonial found an issue that despite user- and BPF-side frozen BPF map (like in case of .rodata), it was still possible to write into it from a BPF program side through specific helpers having ARG_PTR_TO_{LONG,INT} as arguments. In check_func_arg() when the argument is as mentioned, the meta->raw_mode is never set. Later, check_helper_mem_access(), under the case of PTR_TO_MAP_VALUE as register base type, it assumes BPF_READ for the subsequent call to check_map_access_type() and given the BPF map is read-only it succeeds. The helpers really need to be annotated as ARG_PTR_TO_{LONG,INT} | MEM_UNINIT when results are written into them as opposed to read out of them. The latter indicates that it's okay to pass a pointer to uninitialized memory as the memory is written to anyway. However, ARG_PTR_TO_{LONG,INT} is a special case of ARG_PTR_TO_FIXED_SIZE_MEM just with additional alignment requirement. So it is better to just get rid of the ARG_PTR_TO_{LONG,INT} special cases altogether and reuse the fixed size memory types. For this, add MEM_ALIGNED to additionally ensure alignment given these helpers write directly into the args via *<ptr> = val. The .arg*_size has been initialized reflecting the actual sizeof(*<ptr>). MEM_ALIGNED can only be used in combination with MEM_FIXED_SIZE annotated argument types, since in !MEM_FIXED_SIZE cases the verifier does not know the buffer size a priori and therefore cannot blindly write *<ptr> = val.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.23% probability · 14th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- linux/linux kernel
- Source
- 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1e75d25133158b525e0456876e9bcfd6b2993fd5Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ed98ee02d1e08afee88f54baec39ea78dc8a23cPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/32556ce93bc45c730829083cb60f95a2728ea48bPatch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/988e55abcf7fdb8fc9a76a7cf3f4e939a4d4fb3a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a2c8dc7e21803257e762b0bf067fd13e9c995da0Patch
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00001.html
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.