CVE-2024-43891

tracing: Have format file honor EVENT_FILE_FL_FREED

MEDIUM
4.7
CVSS Score
Published: August 26, 2024 at 10:10 AM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 12:04 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
MEDIUM4.7
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Have format file honor EVENT_FILE_FL_FREED When eventfs was introduced, special care had to be done to coordinate the freeing of the file meta data with the files that are exposed to user space. The file meta data would have a ref count that is set when the file is created and would be decremented and freed after the last user that opened the file closed it. When the file meta data was to be freed, it would set a flag (EVENT_FILE_FL_FREED) to denote that the file is freed, and any new references made (like new opens or reads) would fail as it is marked freed. This allowed other meta data to be freed after this flag was set (under the event_mutex). All the files that were dynamically created in the events directory had a pointer to the file meta data and would call event_release() when the last reference to the user space file was closed. This would be the time that it is safe to free the file meta data. A shortcut was made for the "format" file. It's i_private would point to the "call" entry directly and not point to the file's meta data. This is because all format files are the same for the same "call", so it was thought there was no reason to differentiate them. The other files maintain state (like the "enable", "trigger", etc). But this meant if the file were to disappear, the "format" file would be unaware of it. This caused a race that could be trigger via the user_events test (that would create dynamic events and free them), and running a loop that would read the user_events format files: In one console run: # cd tools/testing/selftests/user_events # while true; do ./ftrace_test; done And in another console run: # cd /sys/kernel/tracing/ # while true; do cat events/user_events/__test_event/format; done 2>/dev/null With KASAN memory checking, it would trigger a use-after-free bug report (which was a real bug). This was because the format file was not checking the file's meta data flag "EVENT_FILE_FL_FREED", so it would access the event that the file meta data pointed to after the event was freed. After inspection, there are other locations that were found to not check the EVENT_FILE_FL_FREED flag when accessing the trace_event_file. Add a new helper function: event_file_file() that will make sure that the event_mutex is held, and will return NULL if the trace_event_file has the EVENT_FILE_FL_FREED flag set. Have the first reference of the struct file pointer use event_file_file() and check for NULL. Later uses can still use the event_file_data() helper function if the event_mutex is still held and was not released since the event_file_file() call.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

6.6.33 ≤ v < 6.6.496.9 ≤ v < 6.10.56.9 ≤ v < 6.1114aa4f3efc6e784847e8c8543a7ef34ec9bdbb016.11 rc16.11 rc26.6.33b63db58e2fa5d6963db9c45df88e60060f0ff35f
Vendor states this is fixed in 4ed03758ddf0b19d69eed69386d65a92d0091e0c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 531dc6780d94245af037c25c2371c8caf652f0f9 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in b1560408692cd0ab0370cfbe9deb03ce97ab3f6d (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.10.5 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.11 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.49 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.9 (unaffected)

References (3)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4ed03758ddf0b19d69eed69386d65a92d0091e0c
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/531dc6780d94245af037c25c2371c8caf652f0f9
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1560408692cd0ab0370cfbe9deb03ce97ab3f6d

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-416

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