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🛡️ CVE-2023-52489 — debian-linux

🟡 CVSS 4.7 — Medium ⚠️ Exploit Public CWE-362 NVD
4.7
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

mm/sparsemem: fix race in accessing memory_section->usage

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

mm/sparsemem: fix race in accessing memory_section->usage

The below race is observed on a PFN which falls into the device memory

region with the system memory configuration where PFN's are such that

[ZONE_NORMAL ZONE_DEVICE ZONE_NORMAL]. Since normal zone start and end

pfn contains the device memory PFN's as well, the compaction triggered

will try on the device memory PFN's too though they end up in NOP(because

pfn_to_online_page() returns NULL for ZONE_DEVICE memory sections). When

from other core, the section mappings are being removed for the

ZONE_DEVICE region, that the PFN in question belongs to, on which

compaction is currently being operated is resulting into the kernel crash

with CONFIG_SPASEMEM_VMEMAP enabled. The crash logs can be seen at [1].

compact_zone() memunmap_pages

------------- ---------------

__pageblock_pfn_to_page

......

(a)pfn_valid():

valid_section()//return true

(b)__remove_pages()->

sparse_remove_section()->

section_deactivate():

[Free the array ms->usage and set

ms->usage = NULL]

pfn_section_valid()

[Access ms->usage which

is NULL]

NOTE: From the above it can be said that the race is reduced to between

the pfn_valid()/pfn_section_valid() and the section deactivate with

SPASEMEM_VMEMAP enabled.

The commit b943f045a9af("mm/sparse: fix kernel crash with

pfn_section_valid check") tried to address the same problem by clearing

the SECTION_HAS_MEM_MAP with the expectation of valid_section() returns

false thus ms->usage is not accessed.

Fix this issue by the below steps:

a) Clear SECTION_HAS_MEM_MAP before freeing the ->usage.

b) RCU protected read side critical section will either return NULL

when SECTION_HAS_MEM_MAP is cleared or can successfully access ->usage.

c) Free the ->usage with kfree_rcu() and set ms->usage = NULL. No

attempt will be made to access ->usage after this as the

SECTION_HAS_MEM_MAP is cleared thus valid_section() return false.

Thanks to David/Pavan for their inputs on this patch.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/[email protected]/

On Snapdragon SoC, with the mentioned memory configuration of PFN's as

[ZONE_NORMAL ZONE_DEVICE ZONE_NORMAL], we are able to see bunch of

issues daily while testing on a device farm.

For this particular issue below is the log. Though the below log is

not directly pointing to the pfn_section_valid(){ ms->usage;}, when we

loaded this dump on T32 lauterbach tool, it is pointing.

[ 540.578056] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at

virtual address 0000000000000000

[ 540.578068] Mem abort info:

[ 540.578070] ESR = 0x0000000096000005

[ 540.578073] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits

[ 540.578077] SET = 0, FnV = 0

[ 540.578080] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0

[ 540.578082] FSC = 0x05: level 1 translation fault

[ 540.578085] Data abort info:

[ 540.578086] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000005

[ 540.578088] CM = 0, WnR = 0

[ 540.579431] pstate: 82400005 (Nzcv daif +PAN -UAO +TCO -DIT -SSBSBTYPE=--)

[ 540.579436] pc : __pageblock_pfn_to_page+0x6c/0x14c

[ 540.579454] lr : compact_zone+0x994/0x1058

[ 540.579460] sp : ffffffc03579b510

[ 540.579463] x29: ffffffc03579b510 x28: 0000000000235800 x27:000000000000000c

[ 540.579470] x26: 0000000000235c00 x25: 0000000000000068 x24:ffffffc03579b640

[ 540.579477] x23: 0000000000000001 x22: ffffffc03579b660 x21:0000000000000000

[ 540.579483] x20: 0000000000235bff x19: ffffffdebf7e3940 x18:ffffffdebf66d140

[ 540.579489] x17: 00000000739ba063 x16: 00000000739ba063 x15:00000000009f4bff

[ 540.579495] x14: 0000008000000000 x13: 0000000000000000 x12:0000000000000001

[ 540.579501] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 :ffffff897d2cd440

[ 540.579507] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 :ffffffc03579b5b4

[ 540.579512] x5 : 0000000000027f25 x4 : ffffffc03579b5b8 x3 :0000000000000

---truncated---

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is high, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality none, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: High — the attacker first has to win a race, learn a secret or otherwise prepare the target.
  • Privileges required: Low — an ordinary user account is enough.
  • User interaction: None — nobody has to be tricked into anything.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: None.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

CVE-2023-52489 is classified as CWE-362: Race Condition. Concurrent operations share state without proper synchronisation, so timing decides whether the result is correct.

Affected software

CVE-2023-52489 is recorded against 3 packages.

  • debian-linux
  • kernel (from 6.7.0 up to 6.7.3)
  • linux-kernel (from 6.7 up to 6.7.3)

Timeline and source

Published on 11 March 2024 and last revised on 17 June 2026. A public exploit is known to exist, which raises the urgency of patching considerably. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
git.kernel.org
lists.debian.org

Other advisories for this package

debian-linux has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-362: Race Condition) in other software:

CVE-2023-52489 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity MEDIUM
CVSS Score 4.7
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE CWE-362
Public Exploit ⚠️ Yes
Source NVD
Published 2024-03-11
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-06-17

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
debian-linux — —
kernel 6.7.0 6.7.3
linux-kernel 6.7 6.7.3

References

Similar Threats

Exploit Protection

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