CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2024-58072NVD status: Modified

Linux: Use After Free

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2024-58072 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.8 out of 10. It can be exploited with local access to the system by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. The record lists versions f801e754efa21bd61b3cc15ec7565696165b272f, 1b9cbd8a9ae68b32099fbb03b2d5ffa0c5e0dcc9, 8e2fcc68fbaab3ad9f5671fee2be0956134b740a as the first without the flaw, so updating Linux to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.21% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Update Linux to f801e754efa21bd61b3cc15ec7565696165b272f or 1b9cbd8a9ae68b32099fbb03b2d5ffa0c5e0dcc9 or 8e2fcc68fbaab3ad9f5671fee2be0956134b740a or 1e39b0486cdb496cdfba3bc89886150e46acf6f4, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  2. Update Linux Kernel to 5.4.291 or 5.10.235 or 5.15.179 or 6.1.129, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
LinuxLinux26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, f801e754efa21bd61b3cc15ec7565696165b272f; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 1b9cbd8a9ae68b32099fbb03b2d5ffa0c5e0dcc9; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 8e2fcc68fbaab3ad9f5671fee2be0956134b740a; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 1e39b0486cdb496cdfba3bc89886150e46acf6f4; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 465d01ef6962b82b1f0ad1f3e58b398dbd35c1c1; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 543e3e9f2e9e47ded774c74e680f28a0ca362aee; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 006e803af7408c3fc815b0654fc5ab43d34f0154; 26634c4b1868323f49f8cd24c3493b57819867fd up to, but not including, 2fdac64c3c35858aa8ac5caa70b232e03456e120; and 1 more rangesf801e754efa21bd61b3cc15ec7565696165b272f, 1b9cbd8a9ae68b32099fbb03b2d5ffa0c5e0dcc9, 8e2fcc68fbaab3ad9f5671fee2be0956134b740a, 1e39b0486cdb496cdfba3bc89886150e46acf6f4, 465d01ef6962b82b1f0ad1f3e58b398dbd35c1c1, 543e3e9f2e9e47ded774c74e680f28a0ca362aee
SiemensSIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP - GNU/Linux subsystemall versionsNot stated
LinuxLinux Kernel3.10 up to, but not including, 5.4.291; 5.5 up to, but not including, 5.10.235; 5.11 up to, but not including, 5.15.179; 5.16 up to, but not including, 6.1.129; 6.2 up to, but not including, 6.6.76; 6.7 up to, but not including, 6.12.13; 6.13 up to, but not including, 6.13.25.4.291, 5.10.235, 5.15.179, 6.1.129, 6.6.76, 6.12.13

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
LocalThe attacker needs local access or must trick a user into running something.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Privileges required
LowA basic user account is enough.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by NVD.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtlwifi: remove unused check_buddy_priv Commit 2461c7d60f9f ("rtlwifi: Update header file") introduced a global list of private data structures. Later on, commit 26634c4b1868 ("rtlwifi Modify existing bits to match vendor version 2013.02.07") started adding the private data to that list at probe time and added a hook, check_buddy_priv to find the private data from a similar device. However, that function was never used. Besides, though there is a lock for that list, it is never used. And when the probe fails, the private data is never removed from the list. This would cause a second probe to access freed memory. Remove the unused hook, structures and members, which will prevent the potential race condition on the list and its corruption during a second probe when probe fails.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Use After Free

The 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.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Choose a language that provides automatic memory management.
  • When freeing pointers, be sure to set them to NULL once they are freed. However, the utilization of multiple or complex data structures may lower the usefulness of this strategy.

More Use After Free vulnerabilities (CWE-416)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: partial).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Recent Use After Free vulnerabilities

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