In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
x86/kexec: fix memory leak of elf header buffer
This is reported by kmemleak detector:
unreferenced object 0xffffc900002a9000 (size 4096): comm "kexec", pid 14950, jiffies 4295110793 (age 373.951s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 7f 45 4c 46 02 01 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .ELF............ 04 00 3e 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ..>............. backtrace: [<0000000016a8ef9f>] __vmalloc_node_range+0x101/0x170 [<000000002b66b6c0>] __vmalloc_node+0xb4/0x160 [<00000000ad40107d>] crash_prepare_elf64_headers+0x8e/0xcd0 [<0000000019afff23>] crash_load_segments+0x260/0x470 [<0000000019ebe95c>] bzImage64_load+0x814/0xad0 [<0000000093e16b05>] arch_kexec_kernel_image_load+0x1be/0x2a0 [<000000009ef2fc88>] kimage_file_alloc_init+0x2ec/0x5a0 [<0000000038f5a97a>] __do_sys_kexec_file_load+0x28d/0x530 [<0000000087c19992>] do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 [<0000000066e063a4>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
In crash_prepare_elf64_headers(), a buffer is allocated via vmalloc() to store elf headers. While it's not freed back to system correctly when kdump kernel is reloaded or unloaded. Then memory leak is caused. Fix it by introducing x86 specific function arch_kimage_file_post_load_cleanup(), and freeing the buffer there.
And also remove the incorrect elf header buffer freeing code. Before calling arch specific kexec_file loading function, the image instance has been initialized. So 'image->elf_headers' must be NULL. It doesn't make sense to free the elf header buffer in the place.
Three different people have reported three bugs about the memory leak on x86_64 inside Redhat.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 5.5
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Linux Ami 2 | — | Upgrade bpftool-debuginfoUpgrade python-perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-livepatch-5.15.50-23.125Upgrade kernelUpgrade python-perfUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade kernel-tools-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-tools-develUpgrade perf-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-headersUpgrade kernel-livepatch-5.10.236-227.928Upgrade kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade kernel-develUpgrade perfUpgrade kernel-debuginfo | Apr 30, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Debian | — | Upgrade linux | Feb 27, 2025 | Feb 27, 2025 |
| Huawei Euleros 2_0_sp11 | — | Upgrade python3-perfUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-tools-libsUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade kernelUpgrade kernel-abi-stablelists | Jun 13, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Huawei Euleros 2_0_sp12 | — | Upgrade kernelUpgrade kernel-tools-libsUpgrade kernel-abi-stablelistsUpgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade python3-perf | Jul 21, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Huawei Euleros 2_0_sp13 | — | Upgrade bpftoolUpgrade kernel-tools-libsUpgrade kernelUpgrade kernel-toolsUpgrade python3-perfUpgrade kernel-abi-stablelists | Jul 1, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Ubuntu | — | Upgrade linux-riscv-5.15Upgrade linux-gkeopUpgrade linux-kvmUpgrade linux-raspiUpgrade linux-realtimeUpgrade linux-oracle-5.15Upgrade linux-ibmUpgrade linux-azure-5.15Upgrade linux-gcp-5.15Upgrade linux-nvidiaUpgrade linux-gkeUpgrade linux-oracleUpgrade linux-intel-iotg-5.15Upgrade linux-intel-iotgUpgrade linux-gcpUpgrade linux-azure-fde-5.15Upgrade linux-lowlatencyUpgrade linux-azureUpgrade linuxUpgrade linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15Upgrade linux-aws-5.15Upgrade linux-awsUpgrade linux-hwe-5.15 | Mar 19, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
| Vmware Photon_os | — | Use 'tdnf update' to upgrade all packages to the latest version. | Sep 22, 2025 | Feb 26, 2025 |
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