Overview
About vulnerability
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: conntrack: Avoid nf_ct_helper_hash uses after free
If nf_conntrack_init_start() fails (for example due to a register_nf_conntrack_bpf() failure), the nf_conntrack_helper_fini() clean-up path frees the nf_ct_helper_hash map.
When built with NF_CONNTRACK=y, further netfilter modules (e.g: netfilter_conntrack_ftp) can still be loaded and call nf_conntrack_helpers_register(), independently of whether nf_conntrack initialized correctly. This accesses the nf_ct_helper_hash dangling pointer and causes a uaf, possibly leading to random memory corruption.
This patch guards nf_conntrack_helper_register() from accessing a freed or uninitialized nf_ct_helper_hash pointer and fixes possible uses-after-free when loading a conntrack module.
Details
- Affected product:
- AlmaLinux 9.2 ESU , CentOS 8.4 ELS , CentOS 8.5 ELS , Ubuntu 16.04 ELS , Ubuntu 18.04 ELS
- Affected packages:
- linux @ 4.4.0 (+5 more)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: conntrack: Avoid nf_ct_helper_hash uses after free
If nf_conntrack_init_start() fails (for example due to a register_nf_conntrack_bpf() failure), the nf_conntrack_helper_fini() clean-up path frees the nf_ct_helper_hash map.
When built with NF_CONNTRACK=y, further netfilter modules (e.g: netfilter_conntrack_ftp) can still be loaded and call nf_conntrack_helpers_register(), independently of whether nf_conntrack initialized correctly. This accesses the nf_ct_helper_hash dangling pointer and causes a uaf, possibly leading to random memory corruption.
This patch guards nf_conntrack_helper_register() from accessing a freed or uninitialized nf_ct_helper_hash pointer and fixes possible uses-after-free when loading a conntrack module.