data built 2026-10-19T13:16:53Z

Look up another CVE · open CVE-2024-53219 in the interactive tracker

CVE-2024-53219

virtiofs: use pages instead of pointer for kernel direct IO

EPSS 0.2%

Published 2024-12-27 (22 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem fs/fuse. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.

What to do, per Debian release

Debian's own status for CVE-2024-53219 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source

ReleaseStatus VersionWhat this means
Debian 12bookwormvulnerable6.1.190-1No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication.
Debian 13trixiefixed6.12.3-1Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.3-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.
Debian 14forkyfixed6.12.3-1Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.3-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.
Debian unstablesidfixed6.12.3-1Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.3-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts.

The vulnerability

What the bug is

When trying to insert a 10MB kernel module kept in a virtio-fs with cache disabled, the following warning was reported: ------------[ cut here ]------------ WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 404 at mm/page_alloc.c:4551 ...... Modules linked in: CPU: 1 PID: 404 Comm: insmod Not tainted 6.9.0-rc5+ #123 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996) ...... RIP: 0010:__alloc_pages+0x2bf/0x380 ...... Call Trace: <TASK> ? __warn+0x8e/0x150 ? __alloc_pages+0x2bf/0x380 __kmalloc_large_node+0x86/0x160 __kmalloc+0x33c/0x480 virtio_fs_enqueue_req+0x240/0x6d0 virtio_fs_wake_pending_and_unlock+0x7f/0x190 queue_request_and_unlock+0x55/0x60 fuse_simple_request+0x152/0x2b0 fuse_direct_io+0x5d2/0x8c0 fuse_file_read_iter+0x121/0x160 __kernel_read+0x151/0x2d0 kernel_read+0x45/0x50 kernel_read_file+0x1a9/0x2a0 init_module_from_file+0x6a/0xe0 idempotent_init_module+0x175/0x230 __x64_sys_finit_module+0x5d/0xb0 x64_sys_call+0x1c3/0x9e0 do_syscall_64+0x3d/0xc0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 ...... </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- The warning is triggered as follows: 1) syscall finit_module() handles the module insertion and it invokes kernel_read_file() to read the content of the module first. 2) kernel_read_file() allocates a 10MB buffer by using vmalloc() and passes it to kernel_read(). kernel_read() constructs a kvec iter by using iov_iter_kvec() and passes it to fuse_file_read_iter(). 3) virtio-fs disables the cache, so fuse_file_read_iter() invokes fuse_direct_io(). As for now, the maximal read size for kvec iter is only limited by fc->max_read. For virtio-fs, max_read is UINT_MAX, so fuse_direct_io() doesn't split the 10MB buffer. It saves the address and the size of the 10MB-sized buffer in out_args[0] of a fuse request and passes the fuse request to virtio_fs_wake_pending_and_unlock(). 4) virtio_fs_wake_pending_and_unlock() uses virtio_fs_enqueue_req() to queue the request. Because virtiofs need DMA-able address, so virtio_fs_enqueue_req() uses kmalloc() to allocate a bounce buffer for all fuse args, copies these args into the bounce buffer and passed the physical address of the bounce buffer to virtiofsd. The total length of these fuse args for the passed fuse request is about 10MB, so copy_args_to_argbuf() invokes kmalloc() with a 10MB size parameter and it triggers the warning in __alloc_pages(): if (WARN_ON_ONCE_GFP(order > MAX_PAGE_ORDER, gfp)) return NULL; 5) virtio_fs_enqueue_req() will retry the memory allocation in a kworker, but it won't help, because kmalloc() will always return NULL due to the abnormal size and finit_module() will hang forever. A feasible solution is to limit the value of max_read for virtio-fs, so the length passed to kmalloc() will be limited. However it will affect the maximal read size for normal read. And for virtio-fs write initiated from kernel, it has the similar problem but now there is no way to limit fc->max_write in kernel. So instead of limiting both the values of max_read and max_write in kernel, introducing use_pages_for_kvec_io in fuse_conn and setting it as true in virtiofs. When use_pages_for_kvec_io is enabled, fuse will use pages instead of pointer to pass the KVEC_IO data. After switching to pages for KVEC_IO data, these pages will be used for DMA through virtio-fs. If these pages are backed by vmalloc(), {flush|invalidate}_kernel_vmap_range() are necessary to flush or invalidate the cache before the DMA operation. So add two new fields in fuse_args_pages to record the base address of vmalloc area and the condition indicating whether invalidation is needed. Perform the flush in fuse_get_user_pages() for write operations and the invalidation in fuse_release_user_pages() for read operations. It may seem necessary to introduce another fie ---truncated---

Where it lives

The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.

fs/fuse/file.c
fs/fuse/fuse_i.h
fs/fuse/virtio_fs.c

What this is
FUSE FILESYSTEM [CORE]MAINTAINERS section matched on fs/fuse/ · fuse-devel@lists.linux.dev · Supported
Kernel module
fuse

Check it on the machine

grep -w CONFIG_FUSE_FS /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.

lsmod | grep -w fuse

Prints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.

Show whether Debian builds this, per release

Debian builds this code. Every release below compiles the affected file into the kernels it ships.

  • bookwormm
  • trixie, forky, sidy
m
a loadable module on every flavour - check lsmod, can be blacklisted
y
built into the kernel image on every flavour - only a patch removes it
Build switch
CONFIG_FUSE_FS

From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages

Signals

Published
2024-12-27 (22 months ago)source
CVSS
no vector published, unrated
Attack vector
not published
EPSS
0.22%, higher than 12.0% of all CVEssource
CISA KEV
not listedthe KEV catalogue
Debian urgency
not yet assignedsource
Subsystem
fs/fuse

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

IntroducedFixed inCommit
5.46.11.119a8fde56d4b6
5.46.12.22bc07714dc95
5.46.1341748675c0bf

Why the CNA scored it this way

The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2024-53219, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.