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

pid: take a reference when initializing `cad_pid`

During boot, kernel_init_freeable() initializes `cad_pid` to the init
task's struct pid. Later on, we may change `cad_pid` via a sysctl, and
when this happens proc_do_cad_pid() will increment the refcount on the
new pid via get_pid(), and will decrement the refcount on the old pid
via put_pid(). As we never called get_pid() when we initialized
`cad_pid`, we decrement a reference we never incremented, can therefore
free the init task's struct pid early. As there can be dangling
references to the struct pid, we can later encounter a use-after-free
(e.g. when delivering signals).

This was spotted when fuzzing v5.13-rc3 with Syzkaller, but seems to
have been around since the conversion of `cad_pid` to struct pid in
commit 9ec52099e4b8 ("[PATCH] replace cad_pid by a struct pid") from the
pre-KASAN stone age of v2.6.19.

Fix this by getting a reference to the init task's struct pid when we
assign it to `cad_pid`.

Full KASAN splat below.

==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ns_of_pid include/linux/pid.h:153 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in task_active_pid_ns+0xc0/0xc8 kernel/pid.c:509
Read of size 4 at addr ffff23794dda0004 by task syz-executor.0/273

CPU: 1 PID: 273 Comm: syz-executor.0 Not tainted 5.12.0-00001-g9aef892b2d15 #1
Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT)
Call trace:
ns_of_pid include/linux/pid.h:153 [inline]
task_active_pid_ns+0xc0/0xc8 kernel/pid.c:509
do_notify_parent+0x308/0xe60 kernel/signal.c:1950
exit_notify kernel/exit.c:682 [inline]
do_exit+0x2334/0x2bd0 kernel/exit.c:845
do_group_exit+0x108/0x2c8 kernel/exit.c:922
get_signal+0x4e4/0x2a88 kernel/signal.c:2781
do_signal arch/arm64/kernel/signal.c:882 [inline]
do_notify_resume+0x300/0x970 arch/arm64/kernel/signal.c:936
work_pending+0xc/0x2dc

Allocated by task 0:
slab_post_alloc_hook+0x50/0x5c0 mm/slab.h:516
slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:2907 [inline]
slab_alloc mm/slub.c:2915 [inline]
kmem_cache_alloc+0x1f4/0x4c0 mm/slub.c:2920
alloc_pid+0xdc/0xc00 kernel/pid.c:180
copy_process+0x2794/0x5e18 kernel/fork.c:2129
kernel_clone+0x194/0x13c8 kernel/fork.c:2500
kernel_thread+0xd4/0x110 kernel/fork.c:2552
rest_init+0x44/0x4a0 init/main.c:687
arch_call_rest_init+0x1c/0x28
start_kernel+0x520/0x554 init/main.c:1064
0x0

Freed by task 270:
slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:1562 [inline]
slab_free_freelist_hook+0x98/0x260 mm/slub.c:1600
slab_free mm/slub.c:3161 [inline]
kmem_cache_free+0x224/0x8e0 mm/slub.c:3177
put_pid.part.4+0xe0/0x1a8 kernel/pid.c:114
put_pid+0x30/0x48 kernel/pid.c:109
proc_do_cad_pid+0x190/0x1b0 kernel/sysctl.c:1401
proc_sys_call_handler+0x338/0x4b0 fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c:591
proc_sys_write+0x34/0x48 fs/proc/proc_sysctl.c:617
call_write_iter include/linux/fs.h:1977 [inline]
new_sync_write+0x3ac/0x510 fs/read_write.c:518
vfs_write fs/read_write.c:605 [inline]
vfs_write+0x9c4/0x1018 fs/read_write.c:585
ksys_write+0x124/0x240 fs/read_write.c:658
__do_sys_write fs/read_write.c:670 [inline]
__se_sys_write fs/read_write.c:667 [inline]
__arm64_sys_write+0x78/0xb0 fs/read_write.c:667
__invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:37 [inline]
invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49 [inline]
el0_svc_common.constprop.1+0x16c/0x388 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:129
do_el0_svc+0xf8/0x150 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:168
el0_svc+0x28/0x38 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:416
el0_sync_handler+0x134/0x180 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:432
el0_sync+0x154/0x180 arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:701

The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff23794dda0000
which belongs to the cache pid of size 224
The buggy address is located 4 bytes inside of
224-byte region [ff
---truncated---
Published: 2024-03-15
Score: 7.8 High
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

Additional remediation guidance may be available on OpenCVE Cloud.

Tracking

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7183-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-7184-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
History

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 03:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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'}

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 18:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 13:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Subscriptions

Linux Linux Kernel
Redhat Enterprise Linux
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-11T13:48:23.853Z

Reserved: 2024-03-04T18:12:48.838Z

Link: CVE-2021-47118

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2024-08-04T05:24:39.826Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2024-03-15T21:15:06.943

Modified: 2025-02-27T03:20:09.380

Link: CVE-2021-47118

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Low

Publid Date: 2024-03-15T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2021-47118 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses