CVE-2023-52455: linux kernel vulnerability

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu: Don't reserve 0-length IOVA region When the bootloader/firmware doesn't setup the framebuffers, their address and size are 0 in "iommu-addresses" property. If IOVA region is reserved with 0 length, then it ends up corrupting the IOVA rbtree with an entry which has pfn_hi < pfn_lo. If we intend to use display driver in kernel without framebuffer then it's causing the display IOMMU mappings to fail as entire valid IOVA space is reserved when address and length are passed as 0. An ideal solution would be firmware removing the "iommu-addresses" property and corresponding "memory-region" if display is not present. But the kernel should be able to handle this by checking for size of IOVA region and skipping the IOVA reservation if size is 0. Also, add a warning if firmware is requesting 0-length IOVA region reservation.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2023-52455, a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) 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
• Reference