CVE-2024-56640

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/smc: fix LGR and link use-after-free issue

We encountered a LGR/link use-after-free issue, which manifested as the LGR/link refcnt reaching 0 early and entering the clear process, making resource access unsafe.

refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. WARNING: CPU: 14 PID: 107447 at lib/refcount.c:25 refcount_warn_saturate+0x9c/0x140 Workqueue: events smc_lgr_terminate_work [smc] Call trace: refcount_warn_saturate+0x9c/0x140 __smc_lgr_terminate.part.45+0x2a8/0x370 [smc] smc_lgr_terminate_work+0x28/0x30 [smc] process_one_work+0x1b8/0x420 worker_thread+0x158/0x510 kthread+0x114/0x118

or

refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. WARNING: CPU: 6 PID: 93140 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0xf0/0x140 Workqueue: smc_hs_wq smc_listen_work [smc] Call trace: refcount_warn_saturate+0xf0/0x140 smcr_link_put+0x1cc/0x1d8 [smc] smc_conn_free+0x110/0x1b0 [smc] smc_conn_abort+0x50/0x60 [smc] smc_listen_find_device+0x75c/0x790 [smc] smc_listen_work+0x368/0x8a0 [smc] process_one_work+0x1b8/0x420 worker_thread+0x158/0x510 kthread+0x114/0x118

It is caused by repeated release of LGR/link refcnt. One suspect is that smc_conn_free() is called repeatedly because some smc_conn_free() from server listening path are not protected by sock lock.

e.g.

Calls under socklock | smc_listen_work

lock_sock(sk) | smc_conn_abort smc_conn_free | - smc_conn_free - smcr_link_put | - smcr_link_put (duplicated) release_sock(sk)

So here add sock lock protection in smc_listen_work() path, making it exclusive with other connection operations.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because exploitation requires active Shared Memory Communications (SMC) socket operations over specialized RDMA or direct memory access infrastructure, which is not commonly enabled in standard environments. The flaw stems from unsynchronized connection abort operations in SMC listener workflows, allowing a race condition that can release link resources prematurely and cause a use-after-free condition. An attacker with access to establish SMC sessions could leverage this to crash the kernel and trigger a denial of service, though successful exploitation requires precise timing.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

To mitigate this issue, prevent module smc from being loaded. Please see https://access.redhat.com/solutions/41278 for how to blacklist a kernel module to prevent it from loading automatically.