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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

Moderate severity Unreviewed Published Oct 21, 2024 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Oct 22, 2024

Package

No package listedSuggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: Use dedicated mutex to protect kvm_usage_count to avoid deadlock

Use a dedicated mutex to guard kvm_usage_count to fix a potential deadlock
on x86 due to a chain of locks and SRCU synchronizations. Translating the
below lockdep splat, CPU1 #6 will wait on CPU0 #1, CPU0 #8 will wait on
CPU2 #3, and CPU2 #7 will wait on CPU1 #4 (if there's a writer, due to the
fairness of r/w semaphores).

CPU0                     CPU1                     CPU2

1 lock(&kvm->slots_lock);
2 lock(&vcpu->mutex);
3 lock(&kvm->srcu);
4 lock(cpu_hotplug_lock);
5 lock(kvm_lock);
6 lock(&kvm->slots_lock);
7 lock(cpu_hotplug_lock);
8 sync(&kvm->srcu);

Note, there are likely more potential deadlocks in KVM x86, e.g. the same
pattern of taking cpu_hotplug_lock outside of kvm_lock likely exists with
__kvmclock_cpufreq_notifier():

cpuhp_cpufreq_online()
|
-> cpufreq_online()
|
-> cpufreq_gov_performance_limits()
|
-> __cpufreq_driver_target()
|
-> __target_index()
|
-> cpufreq_freq_transition_begin()
|
-> cpufreq_notify_transition()
|
-> ... __kvmclock_cpufreq_notifier()

But, actually triggering such deadlocks is beyond rare due to the
combination of dependencies and timings involved. E.g. the cpufreq
notifier is only used on older CPUs without a constant TSC, mucking with
the NX hugepage mitigation while VMs are running is very uncommon, and
doing so while also onlining/offlining a CPU (necessary to generate
contention on cpu_hotplug_lock) would be even more unusual.

The most robust solution to the general cpu_hotplug_lock issue is likely
to switch vm_list to be an RCU-protected list, e.g. so that x86's cpufreq
notifier doesn't to take kvm_lock. For now, settle for fixing the most
blatant deadlock, as switching to an RCU-protected list is a much more
involved change, but add a comment in locking.rst to call out that care
needs to be taken when walking holding kvm_lock and walking vm_list.

======================================================
WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected
6.10.0-smp--c257535a0c9d-pip #330 Tainted: G S O

tee/35048 is trying to acquire lock:
ff6a80eced71e0a8 (&kvm->slots_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: set_nx_huge_pages+0x179/0x1e0 [kvm]

but task is already holding lock:
ffffffffc07abb08 (kvm_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: set_nx_huge_pages+0x14a/0x1e0 [kvm]

which lock already depends on the new lock.

the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is:

-> #3 (kvm_lock){+.+.}-{3:3}:
__mutex_lock+0x6a/0xb40
mutex_lock_nested+0x1f/0x30
kvm_dev_ioctl+0x4fb/0xe50 [kvm]
__se_sys_ioctl+0x7b/0xd0
__x64_sys_ioctl+0x21/0x30
x64_sys_call+0x15d0/0x2e60
do_syscall_64+0x83/0x160
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

-> #2 (cpu_hotplug_lock){++++}-{0:0}:
cpus_read_lock+0x2e/0xb0
static_key_slow_inc+0x16/0x30
kvm_lapic_set_base+0x6a/0x1c0 [kvm]
kvm_set_apic_base+0x8f/0xe0 [kvm]
kvm_set_msr_common+0x9ae/0xf80 [kvm]
vmx_set_msr+0xa54/0xbe0 [kvm_intel]
__kvm_set_msr+0xb6/0x1a0 [kvm]
kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl+0xeca/0x10c0 [kvm]
kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x485/0x5b0 [kvm]
__se_sys_ioctl+0x7b/0xd0
__x64_sys_ioctl+0x21/0x30
x64_sys_call+0x15d0/0x2e60
do_syscall_64+0x83/0x160
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e

-> #1 (&kvm->srcu){.+.+}-{0:0}:
__synchronize_srcu+0x44/0x1a0

---truncated---

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Oct 21, 2024
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Oct 21, 2024
Last updated Oct 22, 2024

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

EPSS score

0.042%
(5th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2024-47744

GHSA ID

GHSA-hrh9-752p-34vj

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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