CyberRota Analysis
AI-GeneratedThe vulnerability affects the Linux kernel's handling of user event memory during the fork operation, where a stale pointer can lead to a use-after-free condition. This flaw can result in memory corruption, potentially allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary code or crash the system. Organizations using Linux-based systems, especially those with high security requirements, should prioritize addressing this vulnerability to mitigate risks associated with memory management errors.
Original NVD Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication dup_task_struct() copies user_event_mm from the parent into the child, without grabbing a reference to it. user_event_mm_dup() should replace it, but it leaves that copied pointer unmodified if user_event_mm_alloc() fails. When the child exits, user_event_mm_remove() decrements a reference the child never owned, which ultimately frees user_event_mm, while the parent still as a stale pointer to it. This creates a UAF, which KASAN reports as: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in current_user_event_mm+0x51/0x1d0 Write of size 4 at addr ffff888005010d30 by task init/44 Call Trace: <TASK> kasan_report+0xce/0x100 kasan_check_range+0x10f/0x1e0 current_user_event_mm+0x51/0x1d0 user_events_ioctl+0x82e/0x15c0 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x139/0x1c0 do_syscall_64+0xce/0x450 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Allocated by task 44: __kasan_kmalloc+0x8f/0xa0 __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x180/0x3a0 user_event_mm_alloc+0x3c/0x1f0 current_user_event_mm+0x88/0x1d0 Freed by task 42: __kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70 kfree+0x13a/0x390 process_one_work+0x696/0xf90 worker_thread+0x420/0xba0 The fix simply clears the copied pointer before any possible failure. In case of failure, the child then has nothing to free.