Skip to content
OpenAdvisories
Medium · 5.5 CVE-2021-47350 EUVD-2021-34355GHSA-5hmx-w727-fqq7

powerpc/mm: Fix lockup on kernel exec fault

Published May 21, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.4 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.4 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-4.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.4 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.4 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.4 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-5.4 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-vmware Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

powerpc/mm: Fix lockup on kernel exec fault

The powerpc kernel is not prepared to handle exec faults from kernel.
Especially, the function is_exec_fault() will return 'false' when an
exec fault is taken by kernel, because the check is based on reading
current->thread.regs->trap which contains the trap from user.

For instance, when provoking a LKDTM EXEC_USERSPACE test,
current->thread.regs->trap is set to SYSCALL trap (0xc00), and
the fault taken by the kernel is not seen as an exec fault by
set_access_flags_filter().

Commit d7df2443cd5f ("powerpc/mm: Fix spurious segfaults on radix
with autonuma") made it clear and handled it properly. But later on
commit d3ca587404b3 ("powerpc/mm: Fix reporting of kernel execute
faults") removed that handling, introducing test based on error_code.
And here is the problem, because on the 603 all upper bits of SRR1
get cleared when the TLB instruction miss handler bails out to ISI.

Until commit cbd7e6ca0210 ("powerpc/fault: Avoid heavy
search_exception_tables() verification"), an exec fault from kernel
at a userspace address was indirectly caught by the lack of entry for
that address in the exception tables. But after that commit the
kernel mainly relies on KUAP or on core mm handling to catch wrong
user accesses. Here the access is not wrong, so mm handles it.
It is a minor fault because PAGE_EXEC is not set,
set_access_flags_filter() should set PAGE_EXEC and voila.
But as is_exec_fault() returns false as explained in the beginning,
set_access_flags_filter() bails out without setting PAGE_EXEC flag,
which leads to a forever minor exec fault.

As the kernel is not prepared to handle such exec faults, the thing to
do is to fire in bad_kernel_fault() for any exec fault taken by the
kernel, as it was prior to commit d3ca587404b3.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 4.14 5.4.133

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 5.14.6-1 —
Debian 13 linux 5.14.6-1 —
Debian 12 linux 5.14.6-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +22 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux 5.4.0-84.94 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-aws 5.4.0-1056.59 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-azure 5.4.0-1058.60 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.4.0-1019.22 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.4.0-1052.56 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +26 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.4.0-1023.24 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-kvm 5.4.0-1046.48 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.4.0-1054.58 —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-raspi 5.4.0-1043.47 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-aws-5.4 5.4.0-1056.59~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-azure-5.4 5.4.0-1058.60~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.4 5.4.0-1052.56~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.4 5.4.0-84.94~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.4 5.4.0-1054.58~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-raspi-5.4 5.4.0-1043.47~18.04.1 —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Show 7 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 5.4.0-1069.73+fips2 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 5.4.0-1073.76+fips1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips 5.4.0-1033.38 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 5.4.0-1067.71~20.04.1 —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +5 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux-gcp +4 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux-azure No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES 15 SP3 kernel-64kb +7 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLES 15 SP3 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1.150300.18.96.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLES 15 SP2 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1.150200.9.99.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SLES 15 SP2 kernel-docs +5 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
Show 9 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
SLES for SAP 15 SP3 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1.150300.18.96.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP3 kernel-docs +5 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP2 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1.150200.9.99.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SLES for SAP 15 SP2 kernel-docs +5 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1.150300.18.96.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE Micro 5.2 kernel-rt +1 5.3.18-150300.172.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2010-1
SLE Micro 5.1 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE Micro 5.1 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1.150300.18.96.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE Micro 5.1 kernel-rt +1 5.3.18-150300.172.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2010-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP3 kernel-default 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP3 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP3_Update_45 1-150300.7.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP2 kernel-default 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SLE Live Patching 15 SP2 kernel-livepatch-SLE15-SP2_Update_49 1-150200.5.3.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SLE HPC 15 SP3 kernel-64kb +6 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE HPC 15 SP3 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1.150300.18.96.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SLE HPC 15 SP2 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1.150200.9.99.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SLE HPC 15 SP2 kernel-docs +5 5.3.18-150200.24.194.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2183-1
SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 kernel-64kb +6 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1
SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 kernel-default-base 5.3.18-150300.59.164.1.150300.18.96.1 SUSE-SU-2024:2185-1

Advisories 3

References