CVE-2017-17855 (published 2017-12-27T17:08Z)

kernel/bpf/verifier.c in the Linux kernel through 4.14.8 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or possibly have unspecified other impact by leveraging improper use of pointers in place of scalars.

Severity: HIGH
CVSS v2 base score: 7.2 (AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C)
CVSS v3 base score: 7.8, HIGH (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H)

Weakness information:
cwe_id: CWE-119
cwe_name: Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
description: The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.
extended_description: 
            Certain languages allow direct addressing of memory locations and do not automatically ensure that these locations are valid for the memory buffer that is being referenced. This can cause read or write operations to be performed on memory locations that may be associated with other variables, data structures, or internal program data.
         
         

Fix information:
repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
commit_details: repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
author: Jann Horn
author_date: 2017-12-18 20:11:59-08:00
msg: bpf: don't prune branches when a scalar is replaced with a pointer

This could be made safe by passing through a reference to env and checking
for env->allow_ptr_leaks, but it would only work one way and is probably
not worth the hassle - not doing it will not directly lead to program
rejection.

Fixes: f1174f77b50c ("bpf/verifier: rework value tracking")
Signed-off-by: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
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: verifier.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -3467,15 +3467,14 @@ static bool regsafe(struct bpf_reg_state *rold, struct bpf_reg_state *rcur,
 			return range_within(rold, rcur) &&
 			       tnum_in(rold->var_off, rcur->var_off);
 		} else {
-			/* if we knew anything about the old value, we're not
-			 * equal, because we can't know anything about the
-			 * scalar value of the pointer in the new value.
+			/* We're trying to use a pointer in place of a scalar.
+			 * Even if the scalar was unbounded, this could lead to
+			 * pointer leaks because scalars are allowed to leak
+			 * while pointers are not. We could make this safe in
+			 * special cases if root is calling us, but it's
+			 * probably not worth the hassle.
 			 */
-			return rold->umin_value == 0 &&
-			       rold->umax_value == U64_MAX &&
-			       rold->smin_value == S64_MIN &&
-			       rold->smax_value == S64_MAX &&
-			       tnum_is_unknown(rold->var_off);
+			return false;
 		}
 	case PTR_TO_MAP_VALUE:
 		/* If the new min/max/var_off satisfy the old ones and

programming_language: C