CyberRota Analysis
AI-GeneratedThe vulnerability in the Linux kernel affects the overlay filesystem, where an unprivileged user can exploit the fsopen() and fsconfig() functions to create a context in a child user namespace and pass it to a parent process, potentially leading to excessive logging and kernel tainting. This can result in a denial of service if the kernel is configured to panic on warnings, as the WARN_ON() condition can be triggered repeatedly. Administrators managing Linux systems with overlay filesystems should prioritize addressing this issue to prevent potential disruptions and ensure system stability.
Original NVD Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ovl: don't warn when the mount is completed from another user namespace fsopen() records the caller's user namespace in fc->user_ns and hands back an ordinary file descriptor. Nothing ties the task that calls fsconfig(FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE) to the task that created the context. The fd is inherited across fork() and exec() and it can be passed over a unix socket. Completing a context from another user namespace is allowed on purpose. vfs_cmd_create() authorizes the create with mount_capable(), which for FS_USERNS_MOUNT checks ns_capable(fc->user_ns, CAP_SYS_ADMIN), and that succeeds for a task holding CAP_SYS_ADMIN in an ancestor of fc->user_ns. So an unprivileged task can reach the WARN_ON() in ovl_fill_super(): create a user and a mount namespace in a child, call fsopen("overlay") there, send the fscontext fd to the parent and let the parent issue FSCONFIG_CMD_CREATE. Both namespaces come from a plain unshare(1) and no capability is needed anywhere: WARNING: fs/overlayfs/super.c:1551 at ovl_fill_super+0x7b9/0x1e20 [overlay] CPU: 3 UID: 1000 PID: 3243376 Comm: fswarn Call Trace: get_tree_nodev+0x71/0xa0 ovl_get_tree+0x15/0x20 [overlay] vfs_get_tree+0x2a/0x100 vfs_cmd_create+0x60/0xf0 __do_sys_fsconfig+0x4b2/0x500 The child needs the mount namespace because fsopen() itself gates on may_mount(), which asks for CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the user namespace owning the caller's mount namespace. fsconfig() doesn't repeat that check. It is a WARN_ON() and not a WARN_ON_ONCE(), so the condition can be raised in a loop to taint the kernel and flood the log, and it panics a kernel booted with panic_on_warn. Keep refusing the mount and stop warning about it. ovl_parse_param() already spells a user namespace check this way for Opt_override_creds.