CVE-2024-40935: cachefiles: flush all requests after setting CACHEFILES_DEAD

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2024-40935 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 17.6% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 12-07-2024
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 11-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cachefiles: flush all requests after setting CACHEFILES_DEAD In ondemand mode, when the daemon is processing an open request, if the kernel flags the cache as CACHEFILES_DEAD, the cachefiles_daemon_write() will always return -EIO, so the daemon can't pass the copen to the kernel. Then the kernel process that is waiting for the copen triggers a hung_task. Since the DEAD state is irreversible, it can only be exited by closing /dev/cachefiles. Therefore, after calling cachefiles_io_error() to mark the cache as CACHEFILES_DEAD, if in ondemand mode, flush all requests to avoid the above hungtask. We may still be able to read some of the cached data before closing the fd of /dev/cachefiles. Note that this relies on the patch that adds reference counting to the req, otherwise it may UAF.

• 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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.