CVE-2024-53096

mm: resolve faulty mmap_region() error path behaviour

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: November 25, 2024 at 09:17 PM UTC
Updated: August 5, 2026 at 12:05 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm: resolve faulty mmap_region() error path behaviour The mmap_region() function is somewhat terrifying, with spaghetti-like control flow and numerous means by which issues can arise and incomplete state, memory leaks and other unpleasantness can occur. A large amount of the complexity arises from trying to handle errors late in the process of mapping a VMA, which forms the basis of recently observed issues with resource leaks and observable inconsistent state. Taking advantage of previous patches in this series we move a number of checks earlier in the code, simplifying things by moving the core of the logic into a static internal function __mmap_region(). Doing this allows us to perform a number of checks up front before we do any real work, and allows us to unwind the writable unmap check unconditionally as required and to perform a CONFIG_DEBUG_VM_MAPLE_TREE validation unconditionally also. We move a number of things here: 1. We preallocate memory for the iterator before we call the file-backed memory hook, allowing us to exit early and avoid having to perform complicated and error-prone close/free logic. We carefully free iterator state on both success and error paths. 2. The enclosing mmap_region() function handles the mapping_map_writable() logic early. Previously the logic had the mapping_map_writable() at the point of mapping a newly allocated file-backed VMA, and a matching mapping_unmap_writable() on success and error paths. We now do this unconditionally if this is a file-backed, shared writable mapping. If a driver changes the flags to eliminate VM_MAYWRITE, however doing so does not invalidate the seal check we just performed, and we in any case always decrement the counter in the wrapper. We perform a debug assert to ensure a driver does not attempt to do the opposite. 3. We also move arch_validate_flags() up into the mmap_region() function. This is only relevant on arm64 and sparc64, and the check is only meaningful for SPARC with ADI enabled. We explicitly add a warning for this arch if a driver invalidates this check, though the code ought eventually to be fixed to eliminate the need for this. With all of these measures in place, we no longer need to explicitly close the VMA on error paths, as we place all checks which might fail prior to a call to any driver mmap hook. This eliminates an entire class of errors, makes the code easier to reason about and more robust.

Affected

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

v ≥ 5.19.17v ≥ 6.0.35.10.150 ≤ v < 5.10.2315.15.75 ≤ v < 5.15.1745.19.17 ≤ v < 5.206.0.3 ≤ v < 6.16.0.3 ≤ v < 6.1.1196.1 ≤ v < 6.1.1196.1 ≤ v < 6.126.1 ≤ v < 6.6.636.2 ≤ v < 6.6.636.7 ≤ v < 6.1243bed0a13a5cdbb314d14f28c2bf2c60eb4e6e1e5.10.1505.15.755.19.176.0.36.12 rc16.12 rc26.12 rc36.12 rc46.12 rc56.12 rc666f2ed0172af04a89677ae1898600e1264e258006757330b1be5b0606125b65ed50caac69bccf9a5a3c08c021778dad30f69895e378843e9f423d734deb0f6562884b5b4beb883d73e66a7d3a1b96d99
Vendor states this is fixed in 43323a4e5b3f8ccc08e2f835abfdc7ee9da8f6ed (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 44f48eb9a6051826227bbd375446064fb2a43c6c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 52c81fd0f5a8bf8032687b94ccf00d13b44cc5c8 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5de195060b2e251a835f622759550e6202167641 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in bdc136e2b05fabcd780fe5f165d154eb779dfcb0 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.231 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.174 (unaffected)
Affected range stops below 5.20, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.119 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.63 (unaffected)

References (8)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43323a4e5b3f8ccc08e2f835abfdc7ee9da8f6ed
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/44f48eb9a6051826227bbd375446064fb2a43c6c
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52c81fd0f5a8bf8032687b94ccf00d13b44cc5c8
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5de195060b2e251a835f622759550e6202167641
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdc136e2b05fabcd780fe5f165d154eb779dfcb0
ExploitIssue TrackingPatch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://project-zero.issues.chromium.org/issues/374117290
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00001.html
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00002.html

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

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

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfo

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