Cloudanix VulnDB

CVE-2024-49878

None

CVSS

—

EPSS

0.3%

Published

Oct 21, 2024

CISA due date

—

Cloudanix analysis

Monitor only SSVC: Track

A kernel bug on servers with specialized memory hardware could let certain memory checks give the wrong answer about whether access should be allowed.

Exploitation
Local Privilege
Attacker needs
Local User
Complexity
Moderate
Impact
Data Exposure
Component
OS kernel
Class
Authorization Bypass
Remediation
Patch
Effort
Medium
Patch risk
Low

What it actually does

region_intersects() fails to traverse descendant resources when System RAM (kmem) is nested under CXL Window entries, causing devmem_is_allowed() to incorrectly return allow for CXL memory ranges that should be denied.

Why it matters to the business

Systems using CXL memory face risk of improper memory permission decisions in the kernel, potentially exposing 786 downstream dependents to authorization bypass attempts even though secondary checks prevent actual mapping.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker locates CXL memory ranges in /proc/iomem, issues writes via /dev/mem into those offsets, and benefits from region_intersects() returning no System RAM matches at the top level; devmem_is_allowed() grants access while ioremap() later rejects the mapping and emits a warning.

How to fix it

Upgrade the Linux kernel to commit 333fbaf6864a4ca031367eb947961a1f3484d337 or later; for Rocky Linux 8 numpy package apply 1:1.14.3-9.el8.

How to confirm the fix worked

Rebuild with the fixed commit, confirm region_intersects() now searches descendants, and verify /dev/mem writes to CXL ranges return EPERM instead of EFAULT without ioremap warnings.

Typical attack path

  1. Parse /proc/iomem to locate CXL Window regions containing nested System RAM (kmem)
  2. Issue write(2) or dd against /dev/mem at the CXL offset
  3. Observe devmem_is_allowed() incorrectly permitting the request and subsequent ioremap warning

How to detect it

Search kernel logs for ioremap warnings referencing RAM addresses inside CXL windows, failed /dev/mem writes returning Bad address, and unusual region_intersects call paths on systems with CXL memory.

  • ioremap on RAM at 0x
  • WARNING: CPU.*__ioremap_caller
  • xlate_dev_mem_ptr
  • write_mem.*vfs_write
  • dd: error writing '/dev/mem': Bad address

What your security team should do

  • Apply the listed kernel commit or package update across all affected hosts
  • Add monitoring for ioremap-on-RAM warnings in kernel logs on CXL-enabled systems
  • Review any custom /dev/mem usage and restrict via LSM or seccomp where possible

The record

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: resource: fix region_intersects() vs add_memory_driver_managed() On a system with CXL memory, the resource tree (/proc/iomem) related to CXL memory may look like something as follows. 490000000-50fffffff : CXL Window 0 490000000-50fffffff : region0 490000000-50fffffff : dax0.0 490000000-50fffffff : System RAM (kmem) Because drivers/dax/kmem.c calls add_memory_driver_managed() during onlining CXL memory, which makes "System RAM (kmem)" a descendant of "CXL Window X". This confuses region_intersects(), which expects all "System RAM" resources to be at the top level of iomem_resource. This can lead to bugs. For example, when the following command line is executed to write some memory in CXL memory range via /dev/mem, $ dd if=data of=/dev/mem bs=$((1 << 10)) seek=$((0x490000000 >> 10)) count=1 dd: error writing '/dev/mem': Bad address 1+0 records in 0+0 records out 0 bytes copied, 0.0283507 s, 0.0 kB/s the command fails as expected. However, the error code is wrong. It should be "Operation not permitted" instead of "Bad address". More seriously, the /dev/mem permission checking in devmem_is_allowed() passes incorrectly. Although the accessing is prevented later because ioremap() isn't allowed to map system RAM, it is a potential security issue. During command executing, the following warning is reported in the kernel log for calling ioremap() on system RAM. ioremap on RAM at 0x0000000490000000 - 0x0000000490000fff WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 416 at arch/x86/mm/ioremap.c:216 __ioremap_caller.constprop.0+0x131/0x35d Call Trace: memremap+0xcb/0x184 xlate_dev_mem_ptr+0x25/0x2f write_mem+0x94/0xfb vfs_write+0x128/0x26d ksys_write+0xac/0xfe do_syscall_64+0x9a/0xfd entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 The details of command execution process are as follows. In the above resource tree, "System RAM" is a descendant of "CXL Window 0" instead of a top level resource. So, region_intersects() will report no System RAM resources in the CXL memory region incorrectly, because it only checks the top level resources. Consequently, devmem_is_allowed() will return 1 (allow access via /dev/mem) for CXL memory region incorrectly. Fortunately, ioremap() doesn't allow to map System RAM and reject the access. So, region_intersects() needs to be fixed to work correctly with the resource tree with "System RAM" not at top level as above. To fix it, if we found a unmatched resource in the top level, we will continue to search matched resources in its descendant resources. So, we will not miss any matched resources in resource tree anymore. In the new implementation, an example resource tree |------------- "CXL Window 0" ------------| |-- "System RAM" --| will behave similar as the following fake resource tree for region_intersects(, IORESOURCE_SYSTEM_RAM, ), |-- "System RAM" --||-- "CXL Window 0a" --| Where "CXL Window 0a" is part of the original "CXL Window 0" that isn't covered by "System RAM".

Affected packages

Ecosystem Package Introduced Fixed
Debian:11 linux 0 No fix
Debian:11 linux 0 5.10.234-1
Debian:11 linux-6.1 0 6.1.119-1~deb11u1
Debian:12 linux 0 No fix
Debian:13 linux 0 No fix
Debian:13 linux 0 6.11.4-1
Linux Kernel 5.1.0 5.4.285
Mageia:9 kernel 0 6.6.58-2.mga9
Mageia:9 kernel-firmware 0 20240909-1.mga9
Mageia:9 kernel-firmware-nonfree 0 20240909-1.mga9.nonfree
Mageia:9 kernel-linus 0 6.6.58-2.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-virtualbox 0 7.0.20-57.mga9
Mageia:9 kmod-xtables-addons 0 3.24-65.mga9
Mageia:9 radeon-firmware 0 20240909-1.mga9.nonfree
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
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 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 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 SP6 kernel-default 0 6.4.0-150600.23.30.1
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 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-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-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-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-edge 0 No fix
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:20.04:LTS linux 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux 0 5.4.0-208.228
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws 0 5.4.0-1140.150
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 5.15.0-1073.79~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-aws-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-azure 0 5.4.0-1145.152
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 5.15.0-1078.87~20.04.1
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 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-bluefield 0 5.4.0-1099.106
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-gcp 0 5.4.0-1143.152
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 5.15.0-1072.80~20.04.1
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 No fix
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 5.15.0-127.137~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-hwe-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-ibm 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-ibm 0 5.4.0-1086.91
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-ibm-5.15 0 5.15.0-1066.69~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-intel-5.13 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 0 5.15.0-1071.77~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-iot 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-iot 0 5.4.0-1048.51
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 5.4.0-1127.136
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 0 5.15.0-127.137~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 0 5.15.0-1032.32~20.04.1
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 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle 0 5.4.0-1138.147
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 5.15.0-1071.77~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-oracle-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-raspi 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-raspi 0 5.4.0-1129.142
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 5.15.0-1069.73~20.04.1
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-riscv-5.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 0 No fix
Ubuntu:20.04:LTS linux-xilinx-zynqmp 0 5.4.0-1058.62
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux 0 5.15.0-127.137
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-allwinner-5.19 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws 0 5.15.0-1073.79
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 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-aws-6.8 0 6.8.0-1023.25~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure 0 5.15.0-1078.87
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 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-azure-6.8 0 6.8.0-1025.30~22.04.1
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 5.15.0-1072.80
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 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gcp-6.8 0 6.8.0-1024.26~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gke 0 5.15.0-1070.76
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-gkeop 0 5.15.0-1056.63
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 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-hwe-6.8 0 6.8.0-57.59~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-ibm 0 5.15.0-1066.69
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-ibm-6.8 0 6.8.0-1023.23~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-intel-iot-realtime 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-intel-iotg 0 5.15.0-1071.77
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-kvm 0 5.15.0-1070.75
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency 0 5.15.0-127.137
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 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 0 6.8.0-54.56.1~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia 0 5.15.0-1068.69
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 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-6.8 0 6.8.0-1022.25~22.04.2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 0 5.15.0-1032.32
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 0 5.15.0-1020.20
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 5.15.0-1071.77
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oracle-6.5 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oracle-6.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-oracle-6.8 0 6.8.0-1020.21~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-raspi 0 5.15.0-1066.69
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
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv-6.8 0 No fix
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-riscv-6.8 0 6.8.0-53.55.1~22.04.1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS linux-starfive-5.19 0 No fix

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