linux-cve-announce - CVE-2023-53478: tracing/synthetic: Fix races on freeing last

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Message-ID: <2025100112-CVE-2023-53478-3da0@gregkh>
Date: Wed,  1 Oct 2025 13:42:48 +0200
From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
To: linux-cve-announce@...r.kernel.org
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...nel.org>
Subject: CVE-2023-53478: tracing/synthetic: Fix races on freeing last_cmd

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...nel.org>

Description
===========

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

tracing/synthetic: Fix races on freeing last_cmd

Currently, the "last_cmd" variable can be accessed by multiple processes
asynchronously when multiple users manipulate synthetic_events node
at the same time, it could lead to use-after-free or double-free.

This patch add "lastcmd_mutex" to prevent "last_cmd" from being accessed
asynchronously.

================================================================

It's easy to reproduce in the KASAN environment by running the two
scripts below in different shells.

script 1:
        while :
        do
                echo -n -e '\x88' > /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
        done

script 2:
        while :
        do
                echo -n -e '\xb0' > /sys/kernel/tracing/synthetic_events
        done

================================================================
double-free scenario:

    process A                       process B
-------------------               ---------------
1.kstrdup last_cmd
                                  2.free last_cmd
3.free last_cmd(double-free)

================================================================
use-after-free scenario:

    process A                       process B
-------------------               ---------------
1.kstrdup last_cmd
                                  2.free last_cmd
3.tracing_log_err(use-after-free)

================================================================

Appendix 1. KASAN report double-free:

BUG: KASAN: double-free in kfree+0xdc/0x1d4
Free of addr ***** by task sh/4879
Call trace:
        ...
        kfree+0xdc/0x1d4
        create_or_delete_synth_event+0x60/0x1e8
        trace_parse_run_command+0x2bc/0x4b8
        synth_events_write+0x20/0x30
        vfs_write+0x200/0x830
        ...

Allocated by task 4879:
        ...
        kstrdup+0x5c/0x98
        create_or_delete_synth_event+0x6c/0x1e8
        trace_parse_run_command+0x2bc/0x4b8
        synth_events_write+0x20/0x30
        vfs_write+0x200/0x830
        ...

Freed by task 5464:
        ...
        kfree+0xdc/0x1d4
        create_or_delete_synth_event+0x60/0x1e8
        trace_parse_run_command+0x2bc/0x4b8
        synth_events_write+0x20/0x30
        vfs_write+0x200/0x830
        ...

================================================================
Appendix 2. KASAN report use-after-free:

BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in strlen+0x5c/0x7c
Read of size 1 at addr ***** by task sh/5483
sh: CPU: 7 PID: 5483 Comm: sh
        ...
        __asan_report_load1_noabort+0x34/0x44
        strlen+0x5c/0x7c
        tracing_log_err+0x60/0x444
        create_or_delete_synth_event+0xc4/0x204
        trace_parse_run_command+0x2bc/0x4b8
        synth_events_write+0x20/0x30
        vfs_write+0x200/0x830
        ...

Allocated by task 5483:
        ...
        kstrdup+0x5c/0x98
        create_or_delete_synth_event+0x80/0x204
        trace_parse_run_command+0x2bc/0x4b8
        synth_events_write+0x20/0x30
        vfs_write+0x200/0x830
        ...

Freed by task 5480:
        ...
        kfree+0xdc/0x1d4
        create_or_delete_synth_event+0x74/0x204
        trace_parse_run_command+0x2bc/0x4b8
        synth_events_write+0x20/0x30
        vfs_write+0x200/0x830
        ...

The Linux kernel CVE team has assigned CVE-2023-53478 to this issue.


Affected and fixed versions
===========================

	Issue introduced in 5.18 with commit 27c888da9867725784bad3d6455d6e53b425fa2b and fixed in 6.1.24 with commit 9fe183f659a2704255e5d84f6ae308c234a113ec
	Issue introduced in 5.18 with commit 27c888da9867725784bad3d6455d6e53b425fa2b and fixed in 6.2.11 with commit 8826d9e7bd51e7656f78baa4472e8e2f5e7069f0
	Issue introduced in 5.18 with commit 27c888da9867725784bad3d6455d6e53b425fa2b and fixed in 6.3 with commit 4ccf11c4e8a8e051499d53a12f502196c97a758e

Please see https://www.kernel.org for a full list of currently supported
kernel versions by the kernel community.

Unaffected versions might change over time as fixes are backported to
older supported kernel versions.  The official CVE entry at
	https://cve.org/CVERecord/?id=CVE-2023-53478
will be updated if fixes are backported, please check that for the most
up to date information about this issue.


Affected files
==============

The file(s) affected by this issue are:
	kernel/trace/trace_events_synth.c


Mitigation
==========

The Linux kernel CVE team recommends that you update to the latest
stable kernel version for this, and many other bugfixes.  Individual
changes are never tested alone, but rather are part of a larger kernel
release.  Cherry-picking individual commits is not recommended or
supported by the Linux kernel community at all.  If however, updating to
the latest release is impossible, the individual changes to resolve this
issue can be found at these commits:
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9fe183f659a2704255e5d84f6ae308c234a113ec
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8826d9e7bd51e7656f78baa4472e8e2f5e7069f0
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4ccf11c4e8a8e051499d53a12f502196c97a758e