CVE-2022-50579: arm64: ftrace: fix module PLTs with mcount

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2022-50579 is a vulnerability in linux with no CVSS score yet. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 11.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 22-10-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 23-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: ftrace: fix module PLTs with mcount Li Huafei reports that mcount-based ftrace with module PLTs was broken by commit: a6253579977e4c6f ("arm64: ftrace: consistently handle PLTs.") When a module PLTs are used and a module is loaded sufficiently far away from the kernel, we'll create PLTs for any branches which are out-of-range. These are separate from the special ftrace trampoline PLTs, which the module PLT code doesn't directly manipulate. When mcount is in use this is a problem, as each mcount callsite in a module will be initialized to point to a module PLT, but since commit a6253579977e4c6f ftrace_make_nop() will assume that the callsite has been initialized to point to the special ftrace trampoline PLT, and ftrace_find_callable_addr() rejects other cases. This means that when ftrace tries to initialize a callsite via ftrace_make_nop(), the call to ftrace_find_callable_addr() will find that the `_mcount` stub is out-of-range and is not handled by the ftrace PLT, resulting in a splat: | ftrace_test: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel. | ftrace: no module PLT for _mcount | ------------[ ftrace bug ]------------ | ftrace failed to modify | [<ffff800029180014>] 0xffff800029180014 | actual: 44:00:00:94 | Initializing ftrace call sites | ftrace record flags: 2000000 | (0) | expected tramp: ffff80000802eb3c | ------------[ cut here ]------------ | WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 157 at kernel/trace/ftrace.c:2120 ftrace_bug+0x94/0x270 | Modules linked in: | CPU: 3 PID: 157 Comm: insmod Tainted: G O 6.0.0-rc6-00151-gcd722513a189-dirty #22 | Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) | pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) | pc : ftrace_bug+0x94/0x270 | lr : ftrace_bug+0x21c/0x270 | sp : ffff80000b2bbaf0 | x29: ffff80000b2bbaf0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff0000c4d38000 | x26: 0000000000000001 x25: ffff800009d7e000 x24: ffff0000c4d86e00 | x23: 0000000002000000 x22: ffff80000a62b000 x21: ffff8000098ebea8 | x20: ffff0000c4d38000 x19: ffff80000aa24158 x18: ffffffffffffffff | x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0a0d2d2d2d2d2d2d x15: ffff800009aa9118 | x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 6333626532303830 x12: 3030303866666666 | x11: 203a706d61727420 x10: 6465746365707865 x9 : 3362653230383030 | x8 : c0000000ffffefff x7 : 0000000000017fe8 x6 : 000000000000bff4 | x5 : 0000000000057fa8 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000001 | x2 : ad2cb14bb5438900 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000022 | Call trace: | ftrace_bug+0x94/0x270 | ftrace_process_locs+0x308/0x430 | ftrace_module_init+0x44/0x60 | load_module+0x15b4/0x1ce8 | __do_sys_init_module+0x1ec/0x238 | __arm64_sys_init_module+0x24/0x30 | invoke_syscall+0x54/0x118 | el0_svc_common.constprop.4+0x84/0x100 | do_el0_svc+0x3c/0xd0 | el0_svc+0x1c/0x50 | el0t_64_sync_handler+0x90/0xb8 | el0t_64_sync+0x15c/0x160 | ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- | ---------test_init----------- Fix this by reverting to the old behaviour of ignoring the old instruction when initialising an mcount callsite in a module, which was the behaviour prior to commit a6253579977e4c6f.

No weakness data has been published for this record.