proc/vmcore: fix clearing user buffer by properly using clear_user()
CVE: CVE-2021-47566
Component: kernel
CWE: CWE-501
Severity: Low
CVSS v3: 5.6/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Release date: 2021-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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

proc/vmcore: fix clearing user buffer by properly using clear_user()

To clear a user buffer we cannot simply use memset, we have to use
clear_user().  With a virtio-mem device that registers a vmcore_cb and
has some logically unplugged memory inside an added Linux memory block,
I can easily trigger a BUG by copying the vmcore via "cp":

  systemd[1]: Starting Kdump Vmcore Save Service...
  kdump[420]: Kdump is using the default log level(3).
  kdump[453]: saving to /sysroot/var/crash/127.0.0.1-2021-11-11-14:59:22/
  kdump[458]: saving vmcore-dmesg.txt to /sysroot/var/crash/127.0.0.1-2021-11-11-14:59:22/
  kdump[465]: saving vmcore-dmesg.txt complete
  kdump[467]: saving vmcore
  BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 00007f2374e01000
  #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
  #PF: error_code(0x0003) - permissions violation
  PGD 7a523067 P4D 7a523067 PUD 7a528067 PMD 7a525067 PTE 800000007048f867
  Oops: 0003 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
  CPU: 0 PID: 468 Comm: cp Not tainted 5.15.0+ #6
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.14.0-27-g64f37cc530f1-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014
  RIP: 0010:read_from_oldmem.part.0.cold+0x1d/0x86
  Code: ff ff ff e8 05 ff fe ff e9 b9 e9 7f ff 48 89 de 48 c7 c7 38 3b 60 82 e8 f1 fe fe ff 83 fd 08 72 3c 49 8d 7d 08 4c 89 e9 89 e8 <49> c7 45 00 00 00 00 00 49 c7 44 05 f8 00 00 00 00 48 83 e7 f81
  RSP: 0018:ffffc9000073be08 EFLAGS: 00010212
  RAX: 0000000000001000 RBX: 00000000002fd000 RCX: 00007f2374e01000
  RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 00000000ffffdfff RDI: 00007f2374e01008
  RBP: 0000000000001000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffc9000073bc50
  R10: ffffc9000073bc48 R11: ffffffff829461a8 R12: 000000000000f000
  R13: 00007f2374e01000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88807bd421e8
  FS:  00007f2374e12140(0000) GS:ffff88807f000000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
  CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
  CR2: 00007f2374e01000 CR3: 000000007a4aa000 CR4: 0000000000350eb0
  Call Trace:
   read_vmcore+0x236/0x2c0
   proc_reg_read+0x55/0xa0
   vfs_read+0x95/0x190
   ksys_read+0x4f/0xc0
   do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Some x86-64 CPUs have a CPU feature called "Supervisor Mode Access
Prevention (SMAP)", which is used to detect wrong access from the kernel
to user buffers like this: SMAP triggers a permissions violation on
wrong access.  In the x86-64 variant of clear_user(), SMAP is properly
handled via clac()+stac().

To fix, properly use clear_user() when we're dealing with a user buffer.


Remediation:
For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.
For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.