CVE-2013-1792: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition') (CWE-362)
value: Race condition in the install_user_keyrings function in security/keys/process_keys.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.3 allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) via crafted keyctl system calls that trigger keyring operations in simultaneous threads.
CWE description: The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently.
Published: 2013-03-22T11:59Z
Repository: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
Language: C
Files changed: security/keys/process_keys.c
Commit date: 2013-03-12 16:44:31 +1100
Commit message: keys: fix race with concurrent install_user_keyrings()

This fixes CVE-2013-1792.

There is a race in install_user_keyrings() that can cause a NULL pointer
dereference when called concurrently for the same user if the uid and
uid-session keyrings are not yet created.  It might be possible for an
unprivileged user to trigger this by calling keyctl() from userspace in
parallel immediately after logging in.

Assume that we have two threads both executing lookup_user_key(), both
looking for KEY_SPEC_USER_SESSION_KEYRING.

	THREAD A			THREAD B
	===============================	===============================
					==>call install_user_keyrings();
	if (!cred->user->session_keyring)
	==>call install_user_keyrings()
					...
					user->uid_keyring = uid_keyring;
	if (user->uid_keyring)
		return 0;
	<==
	key = cred->user->session_keyring [== NULL]
					user->session_keyring = session_keyring;
	atomic_inc(&key->usage); [oops]

At the point thread A dereferences cred->user->session_keyring, thread B
hasn't updated user->session_keyring yet, but thread A assumes it is
populated because install_user_keyrings() returned ok.

The race window is really small but can be exploited if, for example,
thread B is interrupted or preempted after initializing uid_keyring, but
before doing setting session_keyring.

This couldn't be reproduced on a stock kernel.  However, after placing
systemtap probe on 'user->session_keyring = session_keyring;' that
introduced some delay, the kernel could be crashed reliably.

Fix this by checking both pointers before deciding whether to return.
Alternatively, the test could be done away with entirely as it is checked
inside the mutex - but since the mutex is global, that may not be the best
way.

Signed-off-by: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
Reported-by: Mateusz Guzik <mguzik@redhat.com>
Cc: <stable@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: James Morris <james.l.morris@oracle.com>

Diff: diff --git a/security/keys/process_keys.c b/security/keys/process_keys.c
index a571fad910101..42defae1e1616 100644
--- a/security/keys/process_keys.c
+++ b/security/keys/process_keys.c
@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ int install_user_keyrings(void)
 	user = cred->user;
 	uid = from_kuid(cred->user_ns, user->uid);
 
 	kenter("%p{%u}", user, uid);
 
-	if (user->uid_keyring) {
+	if (user->uid_keyring && user->session_keyring) {
 		kleave(" = 0 [exist]");
 		return 0;
 	}
 
 	mutex_lock(&key_user_keyring_mutex);

Vulnerable code: 	if (user->uid_keyring) {
Fixed code: 	if (user->uid_keyring && user->session_keyring) {