Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2024-46678

Medium · 5.5

CVSS

5.5

EPSS

0.2%

Published

Sep 13, 2024

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Schedule a fix SSVC: Track

A locking mistake in the Linux kernel can make the system unstable when network teams switch between backup connections that also use encryption.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Local User
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Denial Of Service
Component
OS kernel
Class
Race Condition
Remediation
Upgrade
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

Using a spinlock (ipsec_lock) to guard ipsec_list while invoking xfrmdev operations (xdo_dev_state_add/delete) that may sleep triggers scheduling-while-atomic during bond active-slave changes under RTNL.

Why it matters to the business

Systems running Linux bonding with IPsec experience kernel instability or crashes on failover or slave reconfiguration, increasing downtime risk for high-availability network setups; low exploitation likelihood reduces urgency.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with local or network-adjacent access triggers repeated bonding active-slave switches (via sysfs or netlink) while mlx5 IPsec state operations are in progress, causing the kernel to attempt to sleep while holding a spinlock and panic.

How to fix it

Upgrade the Linux kernel to a version containing commit 7d2a07b769330c34b4deabeed939325c77a7ec2f or later; rebuild and reboot with the fixed bonding module; test bonding failover under IPsec load after patching.

How to confirm the fix worked

Confirm kernel git commit or package version includes 7d2a07b769330c34b4deabeed939325c77a7ec2f; reproduce bond active-slave change under IPsec and verify absence of scheduling-while-atomic BUG in dmesg.

Typical attack path

  1. Identify Linux host using bonding with IPsec offload
  2. Obtain ability to change active slave (local shell, CAP_NET_ADMIN, or crafted netlink)
  3. Rapidly toggle active slave while IPsec SAs are being added/deleted
  4. Observe kernel BUG: scheduling while atomic and subsequent panic or reboot

How to detect it

Search kernel logs (dmesg, journalctl) for "scheduling while atomic" combined with bonding or mlx5 call traces; look for repeated bond_option_active_slave_set or bond_change_active_slave entries around the time of crashes.

  • BUG: scheduling while atomic
  • bond_change_active_slave
  • bond_option_active_slave_set
  • mlx5e_xfrm_add_state
  • bond_ipsec_add_sa_all
  • ipsec_lock

What your security team should do

  • Apply the referenced kernel commit or distribution update to all affected systems within standard change windows
  • Monitor EPSS and KEV status; reassess if new exploitation reports appear
  • Limit unnecessary bonding IPsec configurations on non-critical hosts until patched
  • Include bonding + IPsec failover tests in kernel update validation procedures

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bonding: change ipsec_lock from spin lock to mutex In the cited commit, bond->ipsec_lock is added to protect ipsec_list, hence xdo_dev_state_add and xdo_dev_state_delete are called inside this lock. As ipsec_lock is a spin lock and such xfrmdev ops may sleep, "scheduling while atomic" will be triggered when changing bond's active slave. [ 101.055189] BUG: scheduling while atomic: bash/902/0x00000200 [ 101.055726] Modules linked in: [ 101.058211] CPU: 3 PID: 902 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.9.0-rc4+ #1 [ 101.058760] Hardware name: [ 101.059434] Call Trace: [ 101.059436] <TASK> [ 101.060873] dump_stack_lvl+0x51/0x60 [ 101.061275] __schedule_bug+0x4e/0x60 [ 101.061682] __schedule+0x612/0x7c0 [ 101.062078] ? __mod_timer+0x25c/0x370 [ 101.062486] schedule+0x25/0xd0 [ 101.062845] schedule_timeout+0x77/0xf0 [ 101.063265] ? asm_common_interrupt+0x22/0x40 [ 101.063724] ? __bpf_trace_itimer_state+0x10/0x10 [ 101.064215] __wait_for_common+0x87/0x190 [ 101.064648] ? usleep_range_state+0x90/0x90 [ 101.065091] cmd_exec+0x437/0xb20 [mlx5_core] [ 101.065569] mlx5_cmd_do+0x1e/0x40 [mlx5_core] [ 101.066051] mlx5_cmd_exec+0x18/0x30 [mlx5_core] [ 101.066552] mlx5_crypto_create_dek_key+0xea/0x120 [mlx5_core] [ 101.067163] ? bonding_sysfs_store_option+0x4d/0x80 [bonding] [ 101.067738] ? kmalloc_trace+0x4d/0x350 [ 101.068156] mlx5_ipsec_create_sa_ctx+0x33/0x100 [mlx5_core] [ 101.068747] mlx5e_xfrm_add_state+0x47b/0xaa0 [mlx5_core] [ 101.069312] bond_change_active_slave+0x392/0x900 [bonding] [ 101.069868] bond_option_active_slave_set+0x1c2/0x240 [bonding] [ 101.070454] __bond_opt_set+0xa6/0x430 [bonding] [ 101.070935] __bond_opt_set_notify+0x2f/0x90 [bonding] [ 101.071453] bond_opt_tryset_rtnl+0x72/0xb0 [bonding] [ 101.071965] bonding_sysfs_store_option+0x4d/0x80 [bonding] [ 101.072567] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x10c/0x1a0 [ 101.073033] vfs_write+0x2d8/0x400 [ 101.073416] ? alloc_fd+0x48/0x180 [ 101.073798] ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 [ 101.074175] do_syscall_64+0x52/0x110 [ 101.074576] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 As bond_ipsec_add_sa_all and bond_ipsec_del_sa_all are only called from bond_change_active_slave, which requires holding the RTNL lock. And bond_ipsec_add_sa and bond_ipsec_del_sa are xfrm state xdo_dev_state_add and xdo_dev_state_delete APIs, which are in user context. So ipsec_lock doesn't have to be spin lock, change it to mutex, and thus the above issue can be resolved.

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Debian:11 linux 0 No fix
Debian:12 linux 0 No fix
Debian:13 linux 0 6.10.9-1
Linux Kernel 5.14.0 6.6.49
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP5 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5-RT_Update_22 0 1-150500.11.3.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP5 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP5_Update_21 0 1-150500.11.5.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6-RT_Update_5 0 1-150600.1.3.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Live Patching 15 SP6 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP6_Update_6 0 1-150600.13.3.5
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1.150500.6.39.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.76.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5 kernel-source-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.76.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 kernel-64kb 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 kernel-default-base 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1.150500.6.39.4
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 kernel-source 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP5 kernel-zfcpdump 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-64kb 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-default-base 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1.150600.12.12.6
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 kernel-zfcpdump 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.9.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-coco_debug 0 6.4.0-15061.9.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-source-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.9.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Confidential Computing Technical Preview 15 SP6 kernel-syms-coco 0 6.4.0-15061.9.coco15sp6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP5 kernel-docs 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP5 kernel-obs-build 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP5 kernel-source 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP5 kernel-syms 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-docs 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-obs-build 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-source 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP6 kernel-syms 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP5 kernel-default 0 5.14.21-150500.55.88.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Legacy 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP5 kernel-azure 0 5.14.21-150500.33.69.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP5 kernel-source-azure 0 5.14.21-150500.33.69.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP5 kernel-syms-azure 0 5.14.21-150500.33.69.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.17.2
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-source-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.17.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud 15 SP6 kernel-syms-azure 0 6.4.0-150600.8.17.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.76.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-rt_debug 0 5.14.21-150500.13.76.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-source-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.76.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP5 kernel-syms-rt 0 5.14.21-150500.13.76.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.17.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-rt_debug 0 6.4.0-150600.10.17.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-source-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.17.1
SUSE:Real Time Module 15 SP6 kernel-syms-rt 0 6.4.0-150600.10.17.1
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS linux 0 3.11.0-12.19
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS linux-aws 0 4.4.0-1002.2
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS linux-azure 0 4.15.0-1023.24~14.04.1
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS linux-lts-xenial 0 4.4.0-13.29~14.04.1
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux 0 4.4.0-2.16
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-aws 0 4.4.0-1001.10
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-aws-hwe 0 4.15.0-1030.31~16.04.1
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-azure 0 4.11.0-1009.9
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-gcp 0 4.10.0-1004.4
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-hwe 0 4.8.0-39.42~16.04.1
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-hwe-edge 0 No fix
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 4.4.0-1004.9
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS linux-oracle 0 4.15.0-1007.9~16.04.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux 0 4.13.0-16.19
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws 0 4.15.0-1001.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws-5.0 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws-5.3 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-aws-5.4 0 5.4.0-1018.18~18.04.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-4.15 0 4.15.0-1082.92
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-5.3 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-5.4 0 5.4.0-1020.20~18.04.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-azure-edge 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-4.15 0 4.15.0-1071.81
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.3 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.4 0 5.4.0-1019.19~18.04.2
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gke-4.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gke-5.4 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-gkeop-5.4 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-hwe 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.4 0 5.4.0-37.41~18.04.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-hwe-edge 0 5.0.0-15.16~18.04.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-ibm-5.4 0 5.4.0-1010.11~18.04.2
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 4.15.0-1002.2
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oem 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle 0 4.15.0-1007.9
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.0 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.3 0 No fix
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.4 0 5.4.0-1019.19~18.04.1
Ubuntu:18.04:LTS linux-raspi-5.4 0 5.4.0-1013.13~18.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux 0 5.4.0-9.12
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws 0 5.4.0-1005.5
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.11 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure 0 5.4.0-1006.6
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.11 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-fde 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure-fde-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-bluefield 0 5.4.0-1007.10
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp 0 5.4.0-1005.5
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.11 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gke 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gke-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gkeop 0 5.4.0-1008.9
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gkeop-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.11 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-ibm 0 5.4.0-1003.4
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-ibm-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-intel-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-iot 0 5.4.0-1001.3
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 5.4.0-1004.4
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.10 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.14 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oem-5.6 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle 0 5.4.0-1005.5
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.11 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-raspi 0 5.4.0-1007.7
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-raspi2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.11 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.15 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 0 5.4.0-1020.24
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-allwinner-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-6.8 0 6.8.0-1020.22~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-6.8 0 6.8.0-1020.23~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-fde 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-fde-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-fde-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-6.8 0 6.8.0-1019.21~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gke 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gkeop 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-6.8 0 6.8.0-50.51~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-ibm 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-ibm-6.8 0 6.8.0-1017.17~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-intel-iot-realtime 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-intel-iotg 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 0 6.8.0-50.51.1~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-6.2 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-6.8 0 6.8.0-1019.21~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-5.17 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-6.0 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-6.1 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oem-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oracle 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oracle-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oracle-6.8 0 6.8.0-1017.18~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-raspi 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-realtime 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv-6.5 0 No fix

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