CVE-2023-52767: tls: fix NULL deref on tls_sw_splice_eof() with empty record

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-52767 is a medium (CVSS 5.5) NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 21-05-2024
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tls: fix NULL deref on tls_sw_splice_eof() with empty record syzkaller discovered that if tls_sw_splice_eof() is executed as part of sendfile() when the plaintext/ciphertext sk_msg are empty, the send path gets confused because the empty ciphertext buffer does not have enough space for the encryption overhead. This causes tls_push_record() to go on the `split = true` path (which is only supposed to be used when interacting with an attached BPF program), and then get further confused and hit the tls_merge_open_record() path, which then assumes that there must be at least one populated buffer element, leading to a NULL deref. It is possible to have empty plaintext/ciphertext buffers if we previously bailed from tls_sw_sendmsg_locked() via the tls_trim_both_msgs() path. tls_sw_push_pending_record() already handles this case correctly; let's do the same check in tls_sw_splice_eof().

• CWE-476NULL Pointer DereferenceThe product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.