NULL pointer dereference in Linux

CVE-2023-52767

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tls: fix NULL deref on tls_sw_splice_eof() with empty record syzkaller discovered that if tls_sw_splice_eof() is executed as part of sendfile() when the plaintext/ciphertext sk_msg are empty, the send path gets confused because the empty ciphertext buffer does not have enough space for the encryption overhead. This causes tls_push_record() to go on the `split = true` path (which is only supposed to be used when interacting with an attached BPF program), and then get further confused and hit the tls_merge_open_record() path, which then assumes that there must be at least one populated buffer element, leading to a NULL deref. It is possible to have empty plaintext/ciphertext buffers if we previously bailed from tls_sw_sendmsg_locked() via the tls_trim_both_msgs() path. tls_sw_push_pending_record() already handles this case correctly; let's do the same check in tls_sw_splice_eof().

EPSS: 0.002 (6.9th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 5ad627faed136089e27bcd15e0c33760e575c8c3, df720d288dbb1793e82b6ccbfc670ec871e9def4, 6.5
  • Linux Linux_kernel — versions 6.7

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-52767?
CVE-2023-52767 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2024-05-21.
How severe is CVE-2023-52767?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.