CVE-2017-15951 (published 2017-10-28T02:29Z)

The KEYS subsystem in the Linux kernel before 4.13.10 does not correctly synchronize the actions of updating versus finding a key in the "negative" state to avoid a race condition, which allows local users to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted system calls.

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-20
cwe_name: Improper Input Validation
description: The product receives input or data, but it does
        not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the
        properties that are required to process the data safely and
        correctly.
extended_description: 
	   Input validation is a frequently-used technique
	   for checking potentially dangerous inputs in order to
	   ensure that the inputs are safe for processing within the
	   code, or when communicating with other components.  When
	   software does not validate input properly, an attacker is
	   able to craft the input in a form that is not expected by
	   the rest of the application. This will lead to parts of the
	   system receiving unintended input, which may result in
	   altered control flow, arbitrary control of a resource, or
	   arbitrary code execution.
	   Input validation is not the only technique for
	   processing input, however.  Other techniques attempt to
	   transform potentially-dangerous input into something safe, such
	   as filtering (CWE-790) - which attempts to remove dangerous
	   inputs - or encoding/escaping (CWE-116), which attempts to
	   ensure that the input is not misinterpreted when it is included
	   in output to another component. Other techniques exist as well
	   (see CWE-138 for more examples.)
	   Input validation can be applied to:
	   
	     raw data - strings, numbers, parameters, file contents, etc.
	     metadata - information about the raw data, such as headers or size
	   
	   Data can be simple or structured.  Structured data
	   can be composed of many nested layers, composed of
	   combinations of metadata and raw data, with other simple or
	   structured data.
	   Many properties of raw data or metadata may need
	   to be validated upon entry into the code, such
	   as:
	   
	     specified quantities such as size, length, frequency, price, rate, number of operations, time, etc.
	     implied or derived quantities, such as the actual size of a file instead of a specified size
	     indexes, offsets, or positions into more complex data structures
	     symbolic keys or other elements into hash tables, associative arrays, etc.
	     well-formedness, i.e. syntactic correctness - compliance with expected syntax 
	     lexical token correctness - compliance with rules for what is treated as a token
	     specified or derived type - the actual type of the input (or what the input appears to be)
	     consistency - between individual data elements, between raw data and metadata, between references, etc.
	     conformance to domain-specific rules, e.g. business logic 
	     equivalence - ensuring that equivalent inputs are treated the same
	     authenticity, ownership, or other attestations about the input, e.g. a cryptographic signature to prove the source of the data
	   
	   Implied or derived properties of data must often
	   be calculated or inferred by the code itself.  Errors in
	   deriving properties may be considered a contributing factor
	   to improper input validation.
	   
	   Note that "input validation" has very different
	   meanings to different people, or within different
	   classification schemes.  Caution must be used when
	   referencing this CWE entry or mapping to it.  For example,
	   some weaknesses might involve inadvertently giving control
	   to an attacker over an input when they should not be able
	   to provide an input at all, but sometimes this is referred
	   to as input validation.
	   Finally, it is important to emphasize that the
	   distinctions between input validation and output escaping
	   are often blurred, and developers must be careful to
	   understand the difference, including how input validation
	   is not always sufficient to prevent vulnerabilities,
	   especially when less stringent data types must be
	   supported, such as free-form text. Consider a SQL injection
	   scenario in which a person's last name is inserted into a
	   query. The name "O'Reilly" would likely pass the validation
	   step since it is a common last name in the English
	   language. However, this valid name cannot be directly
	   inserted into the database because it contains the "'"
	   apostrophe character, which would need to be escaped or
	   otherwise transformed. In this case, removing the
	   apostrophe might reduce the risk of SQL injection, but it
	   would produce incorrect behavior because the wrong name
	   would be recorded.
       
         

Fix information:
repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
commit_details: repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
author: David Howells
author_date: 2017-10-04 16:43:25+01:00
msg: KEYS: Fix race between updating and finding a negative key

Consolidate KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE and the rejection
error into one field such that:

 (1) The instantiation state can be modified/read atomically.

 (2) The error can be accessed atomically with the state.

 (3) The error isn't stored unioned with the payload pointers.

This deals with the problem that the state is spread over three different
objects (two bits and a separate variable) and reading or updating them
atomically isn't practical, given that not only can uninstantiated keys
change into instantiated or rejected keys, but rejected keys can also turn
into instantiated keys - and someone accessing the key might not be using
any locking.

The main side effect of this problem is that what was held in the payload
may change, depending on the state.  For instance, you might observe the
key to be in the rejected state.  You then read the cached error, but if
the key semaphore wasn't locked, the key might've become instantiated
between the two reads - and you might now have something in hand that isn't
actually an error code.

The state is now KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED, KEY_IS_POSITIVE or a negative error
code if the key is negatively instantiated.  The key_is_instantiated()
function is replaced with key_is_positive() to avoid confusion as negative
keys are also 'instantiated'.

Additionally, barriering is included:

 (1) Order payload-set before state-set during instantiation.

 (2) Order state-read before payload-read when using the key.

Further separate barriering is necessary if RCU is being used to access the
payload content after reading the payload pointers.

Fixes: 146aa8b1453b ("KEYS: Merge the type-specific data with the payload data")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # v4.4+
Reported-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
Signed-off-by: David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>
Reviewed-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.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: key.h
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -138,6 +138,11 @@ struct key_restriction {
 	struct key_type *keytype;
 };
 
+enum key_state {
+	KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED,
+	KEY_IS_POSITIVE,		/* Positively instantiated */
+};
+
 /*****************************************************************************/
 /*
  * authentication token / access credential / keyring
@@ -169,6 +174,7 @@ struct key {
 						 * - may not match RCU dereferenced payload
 						 * - payload should contain own length
 						 */
+	short			state;		/* Key state (+) or rejection error (-) */
 
 #ifdef KEY_DEBUGGING
 	unsigned		magic;
@@ -176,18 +182,16 @@ struct key {
 #endif
 
 	unsigned long		flags;		/* status flags (change with bitops) */
-#define KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED	0	/* set if key has been instantiated */
-#define KEY_FLAG_DEAD		1	/* set if key type has been deleted */
-#define KEY_FLAG_REVOKED	2	/* set if key had been revoked */
-#define KEY_FLAG_IN_QUOTA	3	/* set if key consumes quota */
-#define KEY_FLAG_USER_CONSTRUCT	4	/* set if key is being constructed in userspace */
-#define KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE	5	/* set if key is negative */
-#define KEY_FLAG_ROOT_CAN_CLEAR	6	/* set if key can be cleared by root without permission */
-#define KEY_FLAG_INVALIDATED	7	/* set if key has been invalidated */
-#define KEY_FLAG_BUILTIN	8	/* set if key is built in to the kernel */
-#define KEY_FLAG_ROOT_CAN_INVAL	9	/* set if key can be invalidated by root without permission */
-#define KEY_FLAG_KEEP		10	/* set if key should not be removed */
-#define KEY_FLAG_UID_KEYRING	11	/* set if key is a user or user session keyring */
+#define KEY_FLAG_DEAD		0	/* set if key type has been deleted */
+#define KEY_FLAG_REVOKED	1	/* set if key had been revoked */
+#define KEY_FLAG_IN_QUOTA	2	/* set if key consumes quota */
+#define KEY_FLAG_USER_CONSTRUCT	3	/* set if key is being constructed in userspace */
+#define KEY_FLAG_ROOT_CAN_CLEAR	4	/* set if key can be cleared by root without permission */
+#define KEY_FLAG_INVALIDATED	5	/* set if key has been invalidated */
+#define KEY_FLAG_BUILTIN	6	/* set if key is built in to the kernel */
+#define KEY_FLAG_ROOT_CAN_INVAL	7	/* set if key can be invalidated by root without permission */
+#define KEY_FLAG_KEEP		8	/* set if key should not be removed */
+#define KEY_FLAG_UID_KEYRING	9	/* set if key is a user or user session keyring */
 
 	/* the key type and key description string
 	 * - the desc is used to match a key against search criteria
@@ -213,7 +217,6 @@ struct key {
 			struct list_head name_link;
 			struct assoc_array keys;
 		};
-		int reject_error;
 	};
 
 	/* This is set on a keyring to restrict the addition of a link to a key
@@ -353,17 +356,27 @@ extern void key_set_timeout(struct key *, unsigned);
 #define	KEY_NEED_SETATTR 0x20	/* Require permission to change attributes */
 #define	KEY_NEED_ALL	0x3f	/* All the above permissions */
 
+static inline short key_read_state(const struct key *key)
+{
+	/* Barrier versus mark_key_instantiated(). */
+	return smp_load_acquire(&key->state);
+}
+
 /**
- * key_is_instantiated - Determine if a key has been positively instantiated
+ * key_is_positive - Determine if a key has been positively instantiated
  * @key: The key to check.
  *
  * Return true if the specified key has been positively instantiated, false
  * otherwise.
  */
-static inline bool key_is_instantiated(const struct key *key)
+static inline bool key_is_positive(const struct key *key)
+{
+	return key_read_state(key) == KEY_IS_POSITIVE;
+}
+
+static inline bool key_is_negative(const struct key *key)
 {
-	return test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags) &&
-		!test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags);
+	return key_read_state(key) < 0;
 }
 
 #define dereference_key_rcu(KEY)					\

programming_language: C
filename: dns_key.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ static int dns_resolver_match_preparse(struct key_match_data *match_data)
 static void dns_resolver_describe(const struct key *key, struct seq_file *m)
 {
 	seq_puts(m, key->description);
-	if (key_is_instantiated(key)) {
+	if (key_is_positive(key)) {
 		int err = PTR_ERR(key->payload.data[dns_key_error]);
 
 		if (err)

programming_language: C
filename: big_key.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ void big_key_revoke(struct key *key)
 
 	/* clear the quota */
 	key_payload_reserve(key, 0);
-	if (key_is_instantiated(key) &&
+	if (key_is_positive(key) &&
 	    (size_t)key->payload.data[big_key_len] > BIG_KEY_FILE_THRESHOLD)
 		vfs_truncate(path, 0);
 }
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ void big_key_describe(const struct key *key, struct seq_file *m)
 
 	seq_puts(m, key->description);
 
-	if (key_is_instantiated(key))
+	if (key_is_positive(key))
 		seq_printf(m, ": %zu [%s]",
 			   datalen,
 			   datalen > BIG_KEY_FILE_THRESHOLD ? "file" : "buff");

programming_language: C
filename: encrypted.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -854,7 +854,7 @@ static int encrypted_update(struct key *key, struct key_preparsed_payload *prep)
 	size_t datalen = prep->datalen;
 	int ret = 0;
 
-	if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags))
+	if (key_is_negative(key))
 		return -ENOKEY;
 	if (datalen <= 0 || datalen > 32767 || !prep->data)
 		return -EINVAL;

programming_language: C
filename: gc.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -129,15 +129,15 @@ static noinline void key_gc_unused_keys(struct list_head *keys)
 	while (!list_empty(keys)) {
 		struct key *key =
 			list_entry(keys->next, struct key, graveyard_link);
+		short state = key->state;
+
 		list_del(&key->graveyard_link);
 
 		kdebug("- %u", key->serial);
 		key_check(key);
 
 		/* Throw away the key data if the key is instantiated */
-		if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags) &&
-		    !test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags) &&
-		    key->type->destroy)
+		if (state == KEY_IS_POSITIVE && key->type->destroy)
 			key->type->destroy(key);
 
 		security_key_free(key);
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ static noinline void key_gc_unused_keys(struct list_head *keys)
 		}
 
 		atomic_dec(&key->user->nkeys);
-		if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags))
+		if (state != KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED)
 			atomic_dec(&key->user->nikeys);
 
 		key_user_put(key->user);

programming_language: C
filename: key.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -401,6 +401,18 @@ int key_payload_reserve(struct key *key, size_t datalen)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(key_payload_reserve);
 
+/*
+ * Change the key state to being instantiated.
+ */
+static void mark_key_instantiated(struct key *key, int reject_error)
+{
+	/* Commit the payload before setting the state; barrier versus
+	 * key_read_state().
+	 */
+	smp_store_release(&key->state,
+			  (reject_error < 0) ? reject_error : KEY_IS_POSITIVE);
+}
+
 /*
  * Instantiate a key and link it into the target keyring atomically.  Must be
  * called with the target keyring's semaphore writelocked.  The target key's
@@ -424,14 +436,14 @@ static int __key_instantiate_and_link(struct key *key,
 	mutex_lock(&key_construction_mutex);
 
 	/* can't instantiate twice */
-	if (!test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags)) {
+	if (key->state == KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED) {
 		/* instantiate the key */
 		ret = key->type->instantiate(key, prep);
 
 		if (ret == 0) {
 			/* mark the key as being instantiated */
 			atomic_inc(&key->user->nikeys);
-			set_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags);
+			mark_key_instantiated(key, 0);
 
 			if (test_and_clear_bit(KEY_FLAG_USER_CONSTRUCT, &key->flags))
 				awaken = 1;
@@ -577,13 +589,10 @@ int key_reject_and_link(struct key *key,
 	mutex_lock(&key_construction_mutex);
 
 	/* can't instantiate twice */
-	if (!test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags)) {
+	if (key->state == KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED) {
 		/* mark the key as being negatively instantiated */
 		atomic_inc(&key->user->nikeys);
-		key->reject_error = -error;
-		smp_wmb();
-		set_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags);
-		set_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags);
+		mark_key_instantiated(key, -error);
 		now = current_kernel_time();
 		key->expiry = now.tv_sec + timeout;
 		key_schedule_gc(key->expiry + key_gc_delay);
@@ -752,8 +761,8 @@ static inline key_ref_t __key_update(key_ref_t key_ref,
 
 	ret = key->type->update(key, prep);
 	if (ret == 0)
-		/* updating a negative key instantiates it */
-		clear_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags);
+		/* Updating a negative key positively instantiates it */
+		mark_key_instantiated(key, 0);
 
 	up_write(&key->sem);
 
@@ -986,8 +995,8 @@ int key_update(key_ref_t key_ref, const void *payload, size_t plen)
 
 	ret = key->type->update(key, &prep);
 	if (ret == 0)
-		/* updating a negative key instantiates it */
-		clear_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags);
+		/* Updating a negative key positively instantiates it */
+		mark_key_instantiated(key, 0);
 
 	up_write(&key->sem);
 

programming_language: C
filename: keyctl.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -766,10 +766,9 @@ long keyctl_read_key(key_serial_t keyid, char __user *buffer, size_t buflen)
 
 	key = key_ref_to_ptr(key_ref);
 
-	if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags)) {
-		ret = -ENOKEY;
-		goto error2;
-	}
+	ret = key_read_state(key);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		goto error2; /* Negatively instantiated */
 
 	/* see if we can read it directly */
 	ret = key_permission(key_ref, KEY_NEED_READ);
@@ -901,7 +900,7 @@ long keyctl_chown_key(key_serial_t id, uid_t user, gid_t group)
 		atomic_dec(&key->user->nkeys);
 		atomic_inc(&newowner->nkeys);
 
-		if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags)) {
+		if (key->state != KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED) {
 			atomic_dec(&key->user->nikeys);
 			atomic_inc(&newowner->nikeys);
 		}

programming_language: C
filename: keyring.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ static void keyring_describe(const struct key *keyring, struct seq_file *m)
 	else
 		seq_puts(m, "[anon]");
 
-	if (key_is_instantiated(keyring)) {
+	if (key_is_positive(keyring)) {
 		if (keyring->keys.nr_leaves_on_tree != 0)
 			seq_printf(m, ": %lu", keyring->keys.nr_leaves_on_tree);
 		else
@@ -553,7 +553,8 @@ static int keyring_search_iterator(const void *object, void *iterator_data)
 {
 	struct keyring_search_context *ctx = iterator_data;
 	const struct key *key = keyring_ptr_to_key(object);
-	unsigned long kflags = key->flags;
+	unsigned long kflags = READ_ONCE(key->flags);
+	short state = READ_ONCE(key->state);
 
 	kenter("{%d}", key->serial);
 
@@ -597,9 +598,8 @@ static int keyring_search_iterator(const void *object, void *iterator_data)
 
 	if (ctx->flags & KEYRING_SEARCH_DO_STATE_CHECK) {
 		/* we set a different error code if we pass a negative key */
-		if (kflags & (1 << KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE)) {
-			smp_rmb();
-			ctx->result = ERR_PTR(key->reject_error);
+		if (state < 0) {
+			ctx->result = ERR_PTR(state);
 			kleave(" = %d [neg]", ctx->skipped_ret);
 			goto skipped;
 		}

programming_language: C
filename: proc.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -182,6 +182,7 @@ static int proc_keys_show(struct seq_file *m, void *v)
 	unsigned long timo;
 	key_ref_t key_ref, skey_ref;
 	char xbuf[16];
+	short state;
 	int rc;
 
 	struct keyring_search_context ctx = {
@@ -236,17 +237,19 @@ static int proc_keys_show(struct seq_file *m, void *v)
 			sprintf(xbuf, "%luw", timo / (60*60*24*7));
 	}
 
+	state = key_read_state(key);
+
 #define showflag(KEY, LETTER, FLAG) \
 	(test_bit(FLAG,	&(KEY)->flags) ? LETTER : '-')
 
 	seq_printf(m, "%08x %c%c%c%c%c%c%c %5d %4s %08x %5d %5d %-9.9s ",
 		   key->serial,
-		   showflag(key, 'I', KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED),
+		   state != KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED ? 'I' : '-',
 		   showflag(key, 'R', KEY_FLAG_REVOKED),
 		   showflag(key, 'D', KEY_FLAG_DEAD),
 		   showflag(key, 'Q', KEY_FLAG_IN_QUOTA),
 		   showflag(key, 'U', KEY_FLAG_USER_CONSTRUCT),
-		   showflag(key, 'N', KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE),
+		   state < 0 ? 'N' : '-',
 		   showflag(key, 'i', KEY_FLAG_INVALIDATED),
 		   refcount_read(&key->usage),
 		   xbuf,

programming_language: C
filename: process_keys.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ key_ref_t lookup_user_key(key_serial_t id, unsigned long lflags,
 
 	ret = -EIO;
 	if (!(lflags & KEY_LOOKUP_PARTIAL) &&
-	    !test_bit(KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED, &key->flags))
+	    key_read_state(key) == KEY_IS_UNINSTANTIATED)
 		goto invalid_key;
 
 	/* check the permissions */

programming_language: C
filename: request_key.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -595,10 +595,9 @@ int wait_for_key_construction(struct key *key, bool intr)
 			  intr ? TASK_INTERRUPTIBLE : TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
 	if (ret)
 		return -ERESTARTSYS;
-	if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags)) {
-		smp_rmb();
-		return key->reject_error;
-	}
+	ret = key_read_state(key);
+	if (ret < 0)
+		return ret;
 	return key_validate(key);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(wait_for_key_construction);

programming_language: C
filename: request_key_auth.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ static void request_key_auth_describe(const struct key *key,
 
 	seq_puts(m, "key:");
 	seq_puts(m, key->description);
-	if (key_is_instantiated(key))
+	if (key_is_positive(key))
 		seq_printf(m, " pid:%d ci:%zu", rka->pid, rka->callout_len);
 }
 

programming_language: C
filename: trusted.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -1066,7 +1066,7 @@ static int trusted_update(struct key *key, struct key_preparsed_payload *prep)
 	char *datablob;
 	int ret = 0;
 
-	if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags))
+	if (key_is_negative(key))
 		return -ENOKEY;
 	p = key->payload.data[0];
 	if (!p->migratable)

programming_language: C
filename: user_defined.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ int user_update(struct key *key, struct key_preparsed_payload *prep)
 
 	/* attach the new data, displacing the old */
 	key->expiry = prep->expiry;
-	if (!test_bit(KEY_FLAG_NEGATIVE, &key->flags))
+	if (key_is_positive(key))
 		zap = dereference_key_locked(key);
 	rcu_assign_keypointer(key, prep->payload.data[0]);
 	prep->payload.data[0] = NULL;
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(user_destroy);
 void user_describe(const struct key *key, struct seq_file *m)
 {
 	seq_puts(m, key->description);
-	if (key_is_instantiated(key))
+	if (key_is_positive(key))
 		seq_printf(m, ": %u", key->datalen);
 }
 

programming_language: C