ipv6: Fix soft lockups in fib6_select_path under high next hop churn
CVE: CVE-2024-56703
Component: kernel
CWE: CWE-833
Severity: Moderate
CVSS v3: 5.6/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Release date: 2024-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

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

ipv6: Fix soft lockups in fib6_select_path under high next hop churn

Soft lockups have been observed on a cluster of Linux-based edge routers
located in a highly dynamic environment. Using the `bird` service, these
routers continuously update BGP-advertised routes due to frequently
changing nexthop destinations, while also managing significant IPv6
traffic. The lockups occur during the traversal of the multipath
circular linked-list in the `fib6_select_path` function, particularly
while iterating through the siblings in the list. The issue typically
arises when the nodes of the linked list are unexpectedly deleted
concurrently on a different core—indicated by their 'next' and
'previous' elements pointing back to the node itself and their reference
count dropping to zero. This results in an infinite loop, leading to a
soft lockup that triggers a system panic via the watchdog timer.

Apply RCU primitives in the problematic code sections to resolve the
issue. Where necessary, update the references to fib6_siblings to
annotate or use the RCU APIs.

Include a test script that reproduces the issue. The script
periodically updates the routing table while generating a heavy load
of outgoing IPv6 traffic through multiple iperf3 clients. It
consistently induces infinite soft lockups within a couple of minutes.

Kernel log:

 0 [ffffbd13003e8d30] machine_kexec at ffffffff8ceaf3eb
 1 [ffffbd13003e8d90] __crash_kexec at ffffffff8d0120e3
 2 [ffffbd13003e8e58] panic at ffffffff8cef65d4
 3 [ffffbd13003e8ed8] watchdog_timer_fn at ffffffff8d05cb03
 4 [ffffbd13003e8f08] __hrtimer_run_queues at ffffffff8cfec62f
 5 [ffffbd13003e8f70] hrtimer_interrupt at ffffffff8cfed756
 6 [ffffbd13003e8fd0] __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt at ffffffff8cea01af
 7 [ffffbd13003e8ff0] sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt at ffffffff8df1b83d
-- <IRQ stack> --
 8 [ffffbd13003d3708] asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt at ffffffff8e000ecb
    [exception RIP: fib6_select_path+299]
    RIP: ffffffff8ddafe7b  RSP: ffffbd13003d37b8  RFLAGS: 00000287
    RAX: ffff975850b43600  RBX: ffff975850b40200  RCX: 0000000000000000
    RDX: 000000003fffffff  RSI: 0000000051d383e4  RDI: ffff975850b43618
    RBP: ffffbd13003d3800   R8: 0000000000000000   R9: ffff975850b40200
    R10: 0000000000000000  R11: 0000000000000000  R12: ffffbd13003d3830
    R13: ffff975850b436a8  R14: ffff975850b43600  R15: 0000000000000007
    ORIG_RAX: ffffffffffffffff  CS: 0010  SS: 0018
 9 [ffffbd13003d3808] ip6_pol_route at ffffffff8ddb030c
10 [ffffbd13003d3888] ip6_pol_route_input at ffffffff8ddb068c
11 [ffffbd13003d3898] fib6_rule_lookup at ffffffff8ddf02b5
12 [ffffbd13003d3928] ip6_route_input at ffffffff8ddb0f47
13 [ffffbd13003d3a18] ip6_rcv_finish_core.constprop.0 at ffffffff8dd950d0
14 [ffffbd13003d3a30] ip6_list_rcv_finish.constprop.0 at ffffffff8dd96274
15 [ffffbd13003d3a98] ip6_sublist_rcv at ffffffff8dd96474
16 [ffffbd13003d3af8] ipv6_list_rcv at ffffffff8dd96615
17 [ffffbd13003d3b60] __netif_receive_skb_list_core at ffffffff8dc16fec
18 [ffffbd13003d3be0] netif_receive_skb_list_internal at ffffffff8dc176b3
19 [ffffbd13003d3c50] napi_gro_receive at ffffffff8dc565b9
20 [ffffbd13003d3c80] ice_receive_skb at ffffffffc087e4f5 [ice]
21 [ffffbd13003d3c90] ice_clean_rx_irq at ffffffffc0881b80 [ice]
22 [ffffbd13003d3d20] ice_napi_poll at ffffffffc088232f [ice]
23 [ffffbd13003d3d80] __napi_poll at ffffffff8dc18000
24 [ffffbd13003d3db8] net_rx_action at ffffffff8dc18581
25 [ffffbd13003d3e40] __do_softirq at ffffffff8df352e9
26 [ffffbd13003d3eb0] run_ksoftirqd at ffffffff8ceffe47
27 [ffffbd13003d3ec0] smpboot_thread_fn at ffffffff8cf36a30
28 [ffffbd13003d3ee8] kthread at ffffffff8cf2b39f
29 [ffffbd13003d3f28] ret_from_fork at ffffffff8ce5fa64
30 [ffffbd13003d3f50] ret_from_fork_asm at ffffffff8ce03cbb


Remediation: