Description

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.

Metrics

 

CVSS Version 4.0 CVSS Version 3.x CVSS Version 2.0

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CVSS 4.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST: NVD

N/A

NVD assessment not yet provided.

CVSS 3.x Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST: NVD

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

CVSS 2.0 Severity and Vector Strings:

NIST: NVD

Base Score: N/A

NVD assessment not yet provided.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

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Hyperlink	Resource
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/115ee42a4c2f26ba2b4ace2668a3f004621f6833	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23cf39dccf7653650701a6f39b119e9116a27f1a
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8765a423a87d74ef24ea02b43b2728fe4039f248	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3e34a47f98974d0844444c5121aaff123004e57	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f675e3a9189d84a9324ab45b0cb19906c2bc8fcb	Patch

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID	CWE Name	Source
CWE-401	Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime	NIST

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Change History

3 change records found show changes

CVE Modified by kernel.org 4/10/2025 9:15:43 AM

Action	Type	Old Value	New Value
Added	Reference		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23cf39dccf7653650701a6f39b119e9116a27f1a

Initial Analysis by NIST 3/10/2025 5:13:19 PM

Action	Type	Old Value	New Value
Added	CVSS V3.1		AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Added	CWE		CWE-401
Added	CPE Configuration		OR *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 5.16 from (excluding) 5.17.14 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 5.18 from (excluding) 5.18.3 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (excluding) 5.15.46
Added	Reference Type		kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/115ee42a4c2f26ba2b4ace2668a3f004621f6833 Types: Patch
Added	Reference Type		kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8765a423a87d74ef24ea02b43b2728fe4039f248 Types: Patch
Added	Reference Type		kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3e34a47f98974d0844444c5121aaff123004e57 Types: Patch
Added	Reference Type		kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f675e3a9189d84a9324ab45b0cb19906c2bc8fcb Types: Patch

New CVE Received from kernel.org 2/26/2025 2:01:30 AM

Action	Type	Old Value	New Value
Added	Description		Record truncated, showing 500 of 1727 characters. View Entire Change Record 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+0
Added	Reference		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/115ee42a4c2f26ba2b4ace2668a3f004621f6833
Added	Reference		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8765a423a87d74ef24ea02b43b2728fe4039f248
Added	Reference		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3e34a47f98974d0844444c5121aaff123004e57
Added	Reference		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f675e3a9189d84a9324ab45b0cb19906c2bc8fcb