CVE-2022-49264
EUVD-2022-5496226.02.2025, 07:01
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
exec: Force single empty string when argv is empty
Quoting[1] Ariadne Conill:
"In several other operating systems, it is a hard requirement that the
second argument to execve(2) be the name of a program, thus prohibiting
a scenario where argc < 1. POSIX 2017 also recommends this behaviour,
but it is not an explicit requirement[2]:
The argument arg0 should point to a filename string that is
associated with the process being started by one of the exec
functions.
...
Interestingly, Michael Kerrisk opened an issue about this in 2008[3],
but there was no consensus to support fixing this issue then.
Hopefully now that CVE-2021-4034 shows practical exploitative use[4]
of this bug in a shellcode, we can reconsider.
This issue is being tracked in the KSPP issue tracker[5]."
While the initial code searches[6][7] turned up what appeared to be
mostly corner case tests, trying to that just reject argv == NULL
(or an immediately terminated pointer list) quickly started tripping[8]
existing userspace programs.
The next best approach is forcing a single empty string into argv and
adjusting argc to match. The number of programs depending on argc == 0
seems a smaller set than those calling execve with a NULL argv.
Account for the additional stack space in bprm_stack_limits(). Inject an
empty string when argc == 0 (and set argc = 1). Warn about the case so
userspace has some notice about the change:
process './argc0' launched './argc0' with NULL argv: empty string added
Additionally WARN() and reject NULL argv usage for kernel threads.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220127000724.15106-1-ariadne@dereferenced.org/
[2] https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/exec.html
[3] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8408
[4] https://www.qualys.com/2022/01/25/cve-2021-4034/pwnkit.txt
[5] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/176
[6] https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=execve%5C+*%5C%28%5B%5E%2C%5D%2B%2C+*NULL&literal=0
[7] https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=execlp%3F%5Cs*%5C%28%5B%5E%2C%5D%2B%2C%5Cs*NULL&literal=0
[8] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220131144352.GE16385@xsang-OptiPlex-9020/EnginsightAffected Products (NVD)
| Vendor | Product | Version |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 𝑥 < 4.9.317 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 4.10 ≤ 𝑥 < 4.14.282 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 4.15 ≤ 𝑥 < 4.19.246 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 4.20 ≤ 𝑥 < 5.4.197 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 5.5 ≤ 𝑥 < 5.10.110 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 5.11 ≤ 𝑥 < 5.15.33 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 5.16 ≤ 𝑥 < 5.16.19 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 5.17 ≤ 𝑥 < 5.17.2 |
𝑥
= Vulnerable software versions
Debian Releases
openSUSE / SLES Releases
openSUSE Product | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cluster-md-kmp-default |
| ||||||||||
| dlm-kmp-default |
| ||||||||||
| gfs2-kmp-default |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-64kb |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-default |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-default-base |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-default-man |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-docs |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-macros |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-obs-build |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-preempt |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-source |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-syms |
| ||||||||||
| kernel-zfcpdump |
| ||||||||||
| ocfs2-kmp-default |
| ||||||||||
| reiserfs-kmp-default |
|
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Releases
Red Hat Product | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| bpftool |
| ||
| kernel |
| ||
| kernel-abi-stablelists |
| ||
| kernel-core |
| ||
| kernel-debug |
| ||
| kernel-debug-core |
| ||
| kernel-debug-devel |
| ||
| kernel-debug-devel-matched |
| ||
| kernel-debug-modules |
| ||
| kernel-debug-modules-extra |
| ||
| kernel-devel |
| ||
| kernel-devel-matched |
| ||
| kernel-doc |
| ||
| kernel-modules |
| ||
| kernel-modules-extra |
| ||
| kernel-tools |
| ||
| kernel-tools-libs |
| ||
| kernel-tools-libs-devel |
| ||
| kernel-zfcpdump |
| ||
| kernel-zfcpdump-core |
| ||
| kernel-zfcpdump-devel |
| ||
| kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched |
| ||
| kernel-zfcpdump-modules |
| ||
| kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra |
| ||
| perf |
| ||
| python3-perf |
|
Common Weakness Enumeration
References