Synopsis
The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.
Description
The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.
- 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 relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.
Solution
There is no known solution at this time.
Plugin Details
File Name: unpatched_CVE_2021_46921.nasl
Agent: unix
Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus
Risk Information
Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:N/A:N
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
Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched
Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available
Vulnerability Publication Date: 2/27/2024