CVE-2023-52447: bpf: Defer the free of inner map when necessary

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-52447 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.25% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 16.3% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 22-02-2024
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 15-10-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Defer the free of inner map when necessary When updating or deleting an inner map in map array or map htab, the map may still be accessed by non-sleepable program or sleepable program. However bpf_map_fd_put_ptr() decreases the ref-counter of the inner map directly through bpf_map_put(), if the ref-counter is the last one (which is true for most cases), the inner map will be freed by ops->map_free() in a kworker. But for now, most .map_free() callbacks don't use synchronize_rcu() or its variants to wait for the elapse of a RCU grace period, so after the invocation of ops->map_free completes, the bpf program which is accessing the inner map may incur use-after-free problem. Fix the free of inner map by invoking bpf_map_free_deferred() after both one RCU grace period and one tasks trace RCU grace period if the inner map has been removed from the outer map before. The deferment is accomplished by using call_rcu() or call_rcu_tasks_trace() when releasing the last ref-counter of bpf map. The newly-added rcu_head field in bpf_map shares the same storage space with work field to reduce the size of bpf_map.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.