CVE-2013-1957 (published 2013-04-24T19:55Z)

The clone_mnt function in fs/namespace.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.6 does not properly restrict changes to the MNT_READONLY flag, which allows local users to bypass an intended read-only property of a filesystem by leveraging a separate mount namespace.

Severity: MEDIUM
CVSS v2 base score: 4.7 (AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N)

Weakness information:
cwe_id: CWE-264
cwe_name: Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls
description: Weaknesses in this category are related to the management of permissions, privileges, and other security features that are used to perform access control.

Fix information:
repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
commit_details: repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
author: Eric W. Biederman
author_date: 2013-03-22 04:08:05-07:00
msg: vfs: Carefully propogate mounts across user namespaces

As a matter of policy MNT_READONLY should not be changable if the
original mounter had more privileges than creator of the mount
namespace.

Add the flag CL_UNPRIVILEGED to note when we are copying a mount from
a mount namespace that requires more privileges to a mount namespace
that requires fewer privileges.

When the CL_UNPRIVILEGED flag is set cause clone_mnt to set MNT_NO_REMOUNT
if any of the mnt flags that should never be changed are set.

This protects both mount propagation and the initial creation of a less
privileged mount namespace.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Acked-by: Serge Hallyn <serge.hallyn@canonical.com>
Reported-by: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
Signed-off-by: "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@xmission.com>
repository: repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
repo_name: torvalds/linux
description: Linux kernel source tree
repo_language: C
owner: torvalds
file_changes: filename: namespace.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -798,6 +798,10 @@ static struct mount *clone_mnt(struct mount *old, struct dentry *root,
 	}
 
 	mnt->mnt.mnt_flags = old->mnt.mnt_flags & ~MNT_WRITE_HOLD;
+	/* Don't allow unprivileged users to change mount flags */
+	if ((flag & CL_UNPRIVILEGED) && (mnt->mnt.mnt_flags & MNT_READONLY))
+		mnt->mnt.mnt_flags |= MNT_LOCK_READONLY;
+
 	atomic_inc(&sb->s_active);
 	mnt->mnt.mnt_sb = sb;
 	mnt->mnt.mnt_root = dget(root);
@@ -2342,7 +2346,7 @@ static struct mnt_namespace *dup_mnt_ns(struct mnt_namespace *mnt_ns,
 	/* First pass: copy the tree topology */
 	copy_flags = CL_COPY_ALL | CL_EXPIRE;
 	if (user_ns != mnt_ns->user_ns)
-		copy_flags |= CL_SHARED_TO_SLAVE;
+		copy_flags |= CL_SHARED_TO_SLAVE | CL_UNPRIVILEGED;
 	new = copy_tree(old, old->mnt.mnt_root, copy_flags);
 	if (IS_ERR(new)) {
 		up_write(&namespace_sem);

programming_language: C
filename: pnode.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <linux/mnt_namespace.h>
 #include <linux/mount.h>
 #include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <linux/nsproxy.h>
 #include "internal.h"
 #include "pnode.h"
 
@@ -220,6 +221,7 @@ static struct mount *get_source(struct mount *dest,
 int propagate_mnt(struct mount *dest_mnt, struct dentry *dest_dentry,
 		    struct mount *source_mnt, struct list_head *tree_list)
 {
+	struct user_namespace *user_ns = current->nsproxy->mnt_ns->user_ns;
 	struct mount *m, *child;
 	int ret = 0;
 	struct mount *prev_dest_mnt = dest_mnt;
@@ -237,6 +239,10 @@ int propagate_mnt(struct mount *dest_mnt, struct dentry *dest_dentry,
 
 		source =  get_source(m, prev_dest_mnt, prev_src_mnt, &type);
 
+		/* Notice when we are propagating across user namespaces */
+		if (m->mnt_ns->user_ns != user_ns)
+			type |= CL_UNPRIVILEGED;
+
 		child = copy_tree(source, source->mnt.mnt_root, type);
 		if (IS_ERR(child)) {
 			ret = PTR_ERR(child);

programming_language: C
filename: pnode.h
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #define CL_MAKE_SHARED 		0x08
 #define CL_PRIVATE 		0x10
 #define CL_SHARED_TO_SLAVE	0x20
+#define CL_UNPRIVILEGED		0x40
 
 static inline void set_mnt_shared(struct mount *mnt)
 {

programming_language: C