CVE-2024-36881

MEDIUM
Published May 30, 2024 Modified Apr 1, 2025

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/userfaultfd: reset ptes when close() for wr-protected ones Userfaultfd unregister includes a step to remove wr-protect bits from all the relevant pgtable entries, but that only covered an explicit UFFDIO_UNREGISTER ioctl, not a close() on the userfaultfd itself. Cover that too. This fixes a WARN trace. The only user visible side effect is the user can observe leftover wr-protect bits even if the user close()ed on an userfaultfd when releasing the last reference of it. However hopefully that should be harmless, and nothing bad should happen even if so. This change is now more important after the recent page-table-check patch we merged in mm-unstable (446dd9ad37d0 ("mm/page_table_check: support userfault wr-protect entries")), as we'll do sanity check on uffd-wp bits without vma context. So it's better if we can 100% guarantee no uffd-wp bit leftovers, to make sure each report will be valid.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

5.5
MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected Products

Vendor Product
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel
linux linux_kernel

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-36881? +
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/userfaultfd: reset ptes when close() for wr-protected ones Userfaultfd unregister includes a step to remove wr-protect bits from all the relevant pgtable entries, but that only covered an explicit UFFDIO_UNREGISTER ioctl, not a close() on the userfaultfd itself. Cover that too. This fixes a WARN trace. The only user visible side effect is the user can observe leftover wr-protect bits even if the user close()ed on an userfaultfd when releasing the last reference of it. However hopefully that should be harmless, and nothing bad should happen even if so. This change is now more important after the recent page-table-check patch we merged in mm-unstable (446dd9ad37d0 ("mm/page_table_check: support userfault wr-protect entries")), as we'll do sanity check on uffd-wp bits without vma context. So it's better if we can 100% guarantee no uffd-wp bit leftovers, to make sure each report will be valid. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).
How severe is CVE-2024-36881? +
CVE-2024-36881 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.5 out of 10, rated MEDIUM. This is a medium-severity vulnerability that should be remediated as part of regular maintenance.
What products are affected by CVE-2024-36881? +
CVE-2024-36881 affects products from linux, specifically: linux_kernel. Check the affected products table above for specific version ranges.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2024-36881? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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