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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2023-52845

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.330 / 4.19.299 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tipc: Change nla_policy for bearer-related names to NLA_NUL_STRING syzbot reported the following uninit-value access issue [1]: ===================================================== BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in strlen lib/string.c:418 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in strstr+0xb8/0x2f0 lib/string.c:756 strlen lib/string.c:418 [inline] strstr+0xb8/0x2f0 lib/string.c:756 tipc_nl_node_reset_link_stats+0x3ea/0xb50 net/tipc/node.c:2595 genl_family_rcv_msg_doit net/netlink/genetlink.c:971 [inline] genl_family_rcv_msg net/netlink/genetlink.c:1051 [inline] genl_rcv_msg+0x11ec/0x1290 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1066 netlink_rcv_skb+0x371/0x650 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2545 genl_rcv+0x40/0x60 net/netlink/genetlink.c:1075 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1342 [inline] netlink_unicast+0xf47/0x1250 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1368 netlink_sendmsg+0x1238/0x13d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1910 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:753 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x9c2/0xd60 net/socket.c:2541 ___sys_sendmsg+0x28d/0x3c0 net/socket.c:2595 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2624 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2633 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2631 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x307/0x490 net/socket.c:2631 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook+0x12f/0xb70 mm/slab.h:767 slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:3478 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_node+0x577/0xa80 mm/slub.c:3523 kmalloc_reserve+0x13d/0x4a0 net/core/skbuff.c:559 __alloc_skb+0x318/0x740 net/core/skbuff.c:650 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1286 [inline] netlink_alloc_large_skb net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1214 [inline] netlink_sendmsg+0xb34/0x13d0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1885 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:730 [inline] sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:753 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x9c2/0xd60 net/socket.c:2541 ___sys_sendmsg+0x28d/0x3c0 net/socket.c:2595 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2624 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2633 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2631 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x307/0x490 net/socket.c:2631 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x41/0xc0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd TIPC bearer-related names including link names must be null-terminated strings. If a link name which is not null-terminated is passed through netlink, strstr() and similar functions can cause buffer overrun. This causes the above issue. This patch changes the nla_policy for bearer-related names from NLA_STRING to NLA_NUL_STRING. This resolves the issue by ensuring that only null-terminated strings are accepted as bearer-related names. syzbot reported similar uninit-value issue related to bearer names [2]. The root cause of this issue is that a non-null-terminated bearer name was passed. This patch also resolved this issue.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-908

Memory or a resource is used before it has been initialised, so its contents are whatever happened to be there — sometimes leaking earlier data, sometimes values an attacker can influence. Behaviour becomes unpredictable and occasionally exploitable. Remediation is initialising every resource before use and ensuring initialisation happens on all code paths.

General guidance for the use of uninitialized resource class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 3.19, < 4.14.330>= 4.15, < 4.19.299>= 4.20, < 5.4.261>= 5.5, < 5.10.201>= 5.11, < 5.15.139>= 5.16, < 6.1.63>= 6.2, < 6.5.12>= 6.6, < 6.6.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.14.330 / 4.19.299 / 5.4.261 or later
Fixed in 4.14.3304.19.2995.4.261
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 4.14.330, 4.19.299, 5.4.261, or 5.10.201 (or later) - choose the release appropriate for your distribution

  1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. Determine which version range the current kernel falls into from the affected versions list
  3. Upgrade the Linux kernel to one of the fixed releases: 4.14.330 or later, 4.19.299 or later, 5.4.261 or later, or 5.10.201 or later
  4. For Debian/Ubuntu: `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade` or install specific linux-image package
  5. For RHEL/CentOS: `sudo yum update kernel` or `sudo dnf update kernel`
  6. For other distributions: obtain kernel update from vendor or compile from source at https://git.kernel.org/ (commit 19b3f72a41a8751e26bffc093bb7e1cef29ad579)
  7. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require system reboot and could introduce compatibility changes with third-party kernel modules or custom drivers

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-52845 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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