CVE-2022-49964: linux kernel vulnerability

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: cacheinfo: Fix incorrect assignment of signed error value to unsigned fw_level Though acpi_find_last_cache_level() always returned signed value and the document states it will return any errors caused by lack of a PPTT table, it never returned negative values before. Commit 0c80f9e165f8 ("ACPI: PPTT: Leave the table mapped for the runtime usage") however changed it by returning -ENOENT if no PPTT was found. The value returned from acpi_find_last_cache_level() is then assigned to unsigned fw_level. It will result in the number of cache leaves calculated incorrectly as a huge value which will then cause the following warning from __alloc_pages as the order would be great than MAX_ORDER because of incorrect and huge cache leaves value. | WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 1 at mm/page_alloc.c:5407 __alloc_pages+0x74/0x314 | Modules linked in: | CPU: 0 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.19.0-10393-g7c2a8d3ac4c0 #73 | pstate: 20000005 (nzCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) | pc : __alloc_pages+0x74/0x314 | lr : alloc_pages+0xe8/0x318 | Call trace: | __alloc_pages+0x74/0x314 | alloc_pages+0xe8/0x318 | kmalloc_order_trace+0x68/0x1dc | __kmalloc+0x240/0x338 | detect_cache_attributes+0xe0/0x56c | update_siblings_masks+0x38/0x284 | store_cpu_topology+0x78/0x84 | smp_prepare_cpus+0x48/0x134 | kernel_init_freeable+0xc4/0x14c | kernel_init+0x2c/0x1b4 | ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 Fix the same by changing fw_level to be signed integer and return the error from init_cache_level() early in case of error.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2022-49964, a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) affecting linux kernel, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether linux kernel is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
• Reference
• Reference