CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-52438 — Linux Linux Kernel security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.8

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: binder: fix use-after-free in shinker's callback The mmap read lock is used during the shrinker's callback, which means that using alloc->vma pointer isn't safe as it can race with munmap(). As of commit dd2283f2605e ("mm: mmap: zap pages with read mmap_sem in munmap") the mmap lock is downgraded after the vma has been isolated. I was able to reproduce this issue by manually adding some delays and triggering page reclaiming through the shrinker's debug sysfs. The following KASAN report confirms the UAF: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in zap_page_range_single+0x470/0x4b8 Read of size 8 at addr ffff356ed50e50f0 by task bash/478 CPU: 1 PID: 478 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.6.0-rc5-00055-g1c8b86a3799f-dirty #70 Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: zap_page_range_single+0x470/0x4b8 binder_alloc_free_page+0x608/0xadc __list_lru_walk_one+0x130/0x3b0 list_lru_walk_node+0xc4/0x22c binder_shrink_scan+0x108/0x1dc shrinker_debugfs_scan_write+0x2b4/0x500 full_proxy_write+0xd4/0x140 vfs_write+0x1ac/0x758 ksys_write+0xf0/0x1dc __arm64_sys_write+0x6c/0x9c…

Severity
High
CVSS
7.8 (3.1)
Published
2024-02-20
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
linux/kernel
Weaknesses
CWE-416

Affected products

  • linux / linux_kernel

Showing 1 representative product identities from 6 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Use-after-free, double free, and expired resource use

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace ownership, references, callbacks, asynchronous tasks, and teardown paths around the affected object or resource.
  • Identify reachable inputs and timing or state transitions that can release the object while references remain.
  • Confirm affected builds, allocators, feature flags, architectures, and process privileges.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained ownership or lifetime fix and rebuild all artifacts containing the affected native code.
  • Use explicit ownership, safe reference management, cancellation and join semantics, and idempotent teardown.
  • Add deterministic lifetime tests plus isolated sanitizer and concurrency coverage for shutdown and error paths.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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