Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
high 7.0

CVE-2024-43853 json

cgroup/cpuset: Prevent UAF in proc_cpuset_show()

published 2024-08-17 2 y ago modified 2026-08-05 3 mo ago also EUVD-2024-40503

cvss
7.0
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 13%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

cgroup/cpuset: Prevent UAF in proc_cpuset_show()

An UAF can happen when /proc/cpuset is read as reported in [1].

This can be reproduced by the following methods: 1.add an mdelay(1000) before acquiring the cgroup_lock In the cgroup_path_ns function. 2.$cat /proc/<pid>/cpuset repeatly. 3.$mount -t cgroup -o cpuset cpuset /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset/ $umount /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset/ repeatly.

The race that cause this bug can be shown as below:

(umount) | (cat /proc/<pid>/cpuset) css_release | proc_cpuset_show css_release_work_fn | css = task_get_css(tsk, cpuset_cgrp_id); css_free_rwork_fn | cgroup_path_ns(css->cgroup, ...); cgroup_destroy_root | mutex_lock(&cgroup_mutex); rebind_subsystems | cgroup_free_root | | // cgrp was freed, UAF | cgroup_path_ns_locked(cgrp,..);

When the cpuset is initialized, the root node top_cpuset.css.cgrp will point to &cgrp_dfl_root.cgrp. In cgroup v1, the mount operation will allocate cgroup_root, and top_cpuset.css.cgrp will point to the allocated &cgroup_root.cgrp. When the umount operation is executed, top_cpuset.css.cgrp will be rebound to &cgrp_dfl_root.cgrp.

The problem is that when rebinding to cgrp_dfl_root, there are cases where the cgroup_root allocated by setting up the root for cgroup v1 is cached. This could lead to a Use-After-Free (UAF) if it is subsequently freed. The descendant cgroups of cgroup v1 can only be freed after the css is released. However, the css of the root will never be released, yet the cgroup_root should be freed when it is unmounted. This means that obtaining a reference to the css of the root does not guarantee that css.cgrp->root will not be freed.

Fix this problem by using rcu_read_lock in proc_cpuset_show(). As cgroup_root is kfree_rcu after commit d23b5c577715 ("cgroup: Make operations on the cgroup root_list RCU safe"), css->cgroup won't be freed during the critical section. To call cgroup_path_ns_locked, css_set_lock is needed, so it is safe to replace task_get_css with task_css.

[1] https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=9b1ff7be974a403aa4cd

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 4.19.321, 5.4.283, 5.10.225, 5.15.166, 6.1.103, 6.6.44, 6.10.3, 6.11
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.106-1
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.10.3-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2024-43853

  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-200.220
  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-125.135
  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-50.51
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1135.145
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1072.78
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1020.22
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1139.148
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1071.79

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2024-43853

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • rv RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • rtla RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • libperf RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • kernel-rt RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • kernel-64k RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6
  • kernel-core RHEL 9 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:6966

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-10.1
  • kernel-source-rt Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-10.1
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0-RT_Update_2 Linux Micro 6.0 1-1.1
  • kernel-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-19.1
  • kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-19.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-19.1
  • kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-17.1.1.51
  • kernel-livepatch-MICRO-6-0_Update_2 Linux Micro 6.0 1-1.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:20047-1SUSE-SU-2025:20044-1SUSE-SU-2024:3483-1SUSE-SU-2024:3408-1SUSE-SU-2024:3383-1SUSE-SU-2024:3252-1

  • kernel CBL-Mariner 2.0 5.15.167.1-1
  • kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.47.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-47947AZL-48060

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2024-43853 updated cvss 4.7

kernel: cgroup/cpuset: Prevent UAF in proc_cpuset_show()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +12 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “No mitigation is available for this issue other than updating the affected package to the version containing the fix.”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, perf 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, rtla 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, python3-perf 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, +7 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-tools 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-modules 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-64k-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, +27 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-64k 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-64k-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, +14 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-kvm 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-570.12.1.el9_6, +6 more
    fixed: vendor fix “No mitigation is available for this issue other than updating the affected package to the version containing the fix.” RHSA-2025:6966

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

0.23% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 13% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.