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Amazon Linux 2 : kernel (ALASKERNEL-5.4-2024-063)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 194854

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Synopsis

The remote Amazon Linux 2 host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of kernel installed on the remote host is prior to 5.4.110-54.189. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ALAS2KERNEL-5.4-2024-063 advisory.

 - In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: locking/qrwlock: Fix ordering in queued_write_lock_slowpath() While this code is executed with the wait_lock held, a reader can acquire the lock without holding wait_lock. The writer side loops checking the value with the atomic_cond_read_acquire(), but only truly acquires the lock when the compare-and-exchange is completed successfully which isn't ordered. This exposes the window between the acquire and the cmpxchg to an A-B-A problem which allows reads following the lock acquisition to observe values speculatively before the write lock is truly acquired. We've seen a problem in epoll where the reader does a xchg while holding the read lock, but the writer can see a value change out from under it. Writer | Reader
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ep_scan_ready_list() | |- write_lock_irq() | |- queued_write_lock_slowpath() | |- atomic_cond_read_acquire() | | read_lock_irqsave(&ep->lock, flags); --> (observes value before unlock) | chain_epi_lockless() | | epi->next = xchg(&ep->ovflist, epi); | | read_unlock_irqrestore(&ep->lock, flags); | | | atomic_cmpxchg_relaxed() | |-- READ_ONCE(ep->ovflist); | A core can order the read of the ovflist ahead of the atomic_cmpxchg_relaxed(). Switching the cmpxchg to use acquire semantics addresses this issue at which point the atomic_cond_read can be switched to use relaxed semantics. [peterz: use try_cmpxchg()] (CVE-2021-46921)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Run 'yum update kernel' to update your system.

See Also

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/AL2/ALASKERNEL-5.4-2024-063.html

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/cve/html/CVE-2021-46921.html

https://alas.aws.amazon.com/faqs.html

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 194854

File Name: al2_ALASKERNEL-5_4-2024-063.nasl

Version: 1.0

Type: local

Agent: unix

Published: 4/30/2024

Updated: 4/30/2024

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.6

Temporal Score: 3.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:N/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2021-46921

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:perf-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:python-perf-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-headers, cpe:/o:amazon:linux:2, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:bpftool-debuginfo, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-tools-devel, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64, p-cpe:/a:amazon:linux:python-perf

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/AmazonLinux/release, Host/AmazonLinux/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 4/25/2024

Vulnerability Publication Date: 2/27/2024

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2021-46921