CVE-2024-50164

bpf: Fix overloading of MEM_UNINIT's meaning

Published Nov 7, 2024 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Fix overloading of MEM_UNINIT's meaning

Lonial reported an issue in the BPF verifier where check_mem_size_reg()
has the following code:

if (!tnum_is_const(reg->var_off))
/* For unprivileged variable accesses, disable raw
* mode so that the program is required to
* initialize all the memory that the helper could
* just partially fill up.
*/
meta = NULL;

This means that writes are not checked when the register containing the
size of the passed buffer has not a fixed size. Through this bug, a BPF
program can write to a map which is marked as read-only, for example,
.rodata global maps.

The problem is that MEM_UNINIT's initial meaning that "the passed buffer
to the BPF helper does not need to be initialized" which was added back
in commit 435faee1aae9 ("bpf, verifier: add ARG_PTR_TO_RAW_STACK type")
got overloaded over time with "the passed buffer is being written to".

The problem however is that checks such as the above which were added later
via 06c1c049721a ("bpf: allow helpers access to variable memory") set meta
to NULL in order force the user to always initialize the passed buffer to
the helper. Due to the current double meaning of MEM_UNINIT, this bypasses
verifier write checks to the memory (not boundary checks though) and only
assumes the latter memory is read instead.

Fix this by reverting MEM_UNINIT back to its original meaning, and having
MEM_WRITE as an annotation to BPF helpers in order to then trigger the
BPF verifier checks for writing to memory.

Some notes: check_arg_pair_ok() ensures that for ARG_CONST_SIZE{,_OR_ZERO}
we can access fn->arg_type[arg - 1] since it must contain a preceding
ARG_PTR_TO_MEM. For check_mem_reg() the meta argument can be removed
altogether since we do check both BPF_READ and BPF_WRITE. Same for the
equivalent check_kfunc_mem_size_reg().

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4076-1 linux-6.1 security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7276-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7277-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7310-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7449-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7449-2 Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7450-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7451-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7452-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7453-1 Linux kernel (Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7468-1 Linux kernel (Azure, N-Series) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7523-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi Real-time) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7524-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics epss

{'score': 0.00047}

epss

{'score': 0.00048}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-99
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Weaknesses NVD-CWE-noinfo
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.12:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

threat_severity

Moderate

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix overloading of MEM_UNINIT's meaning Lonial reported an issue in the BPF verifier where check_mem_size_reg() has the following code: if (!tnum_is_const(reg->var_off)) /* For unprivileged variable accesses, disable raw * mode so that the program is required to * initialize all the memory that the helper could * just partially fill up. */ meta = NULL; This means that writes are not checked when the register containing the size of the passed buffer has not a fixed size. Through this bug, a BPF program can write to a map which is marked as read-only, for example, .rodata global maps. The problem is that MEM_UNINIT's initial meaning that "the passed buffer to the BPF helper does not need to be initialized" which was added back in commit 435faee1aae9 ("bpf, verifier: add ARG_PTR_TO_RAW_STACK type") got overloaded over time with "the passed buffer is being written to". The problem however is that checks such as the above which were added later via 06c1c049721a ("bpf: allow helpers access to variable memory") set meta to NULL in order force the user to always initialize the passed buffer to the helper. Due to the current double meaning of MEM_UNINIT, this bypasses verifier write checks to the memory (not boundary checks though) and only assumes the latter memory is read instead. Fix this by reverting MEM_UNINIT back to its original meaning, and having MEM_WRITE as an annotation to BPF helpers in order to then trigger the BPF verifier checks for writing to memory. Some notes: check_arg_pair_ok() ensures that for ARG_CONST_SIZE{,_OR_ZERO} we can access fn->arg_type[arg - 1] since it must contain a preceding ARG_PTR_TO_MEM. For check_mem_reg() the meta argument can be removed altogether since we do check both BPF_READ and BPF_WRITE. Same for the equivalent check_kfunc_mem_size_reg().
Title bpf: Fix overloading of MEM_UNINIT's meaning
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Nov 10, 2026, 12:33 PM
Reserved
Oct 21, 2024, 7:36 PM
Status
Modified
Published
Nov 7, 2024, 10:15 AM
Modified
Nov 10, 2026, 1:17 PM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Nov 7, 2024, 12:00 AM