{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2023-54042","assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","state":"PUBLISHED","assignerShortName":"Linux","dateReserved":"2025-12-24T10:53:46.181Z","datePublished":"2025-12-24T10:56:07.565Z","dateUpdated":"2026-08-05T09:16:42.390Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"providerMetadata":{"orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","shortName":"Linux","dateUpdated":"2026-08-05T09:16:42.390Z"},"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\npowerpc/64s: Fix VAS mm use after free\n\nThe refcount on mm is dropped before the coprocessor is detached."}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","baseScore":7.8,"baseSeverity":"HIGH"},"scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"AV:L - The vulnerability is reached through a local character device (`/dev/crypto/nx-gzip`) via `open()` + `ioctl(VAS_TX_WIN_OPEN)` + process exit/`close()`. No network or adjacent-network path exists to the VAS window close path.\nAC:L - The attacker fully controls the trigger: open a window and exit the process, at which point the VAS reference is deterministically the last `mm_count` reference, so `mmdrop()` frees the mm and the immediately following `mm_context_remove_vas_window()` dereferences it. No unwinnable race or uncontrollable precondition is involved, and the sequence can be repeated freely to groom `mm_cachep` reallocation.\nPR:L - Only an unprivileged local account is needed — there is no `capable()` or `CAP_*` check on any path from the ioctl to `vas_deallocate_window()`/`vas_win_close()`, and `Documentation/powerpc/vas-api.rst` states no special privileges are required to open the nx-gzip device, which is deliberately exposed to ordinary user-space compression libraries.\nUI:N - The attacking process performs every step itself (open, ioctl, exit); no action by another user or administrator is required.\nS:U - The corruption is confined to kernel memory managed by the same kernel security authority; no hypervisor, IOMMU, or sandbox boundary is crossed.\nC:H - The freed `mm_struct` is read after free — `context.id`, `context.copros`, `context.active_cpus`, `mm_users`, and `mm_cpumask()` — and `mm_cachep` objects are readily reallocated by forking, so the attacker can influence the contents read; a UAF of this kind is leverageable for kernel memory disclosure, and the corrupted TLB-flush scoping can leave stale translations exposing another process's memory.\nI:H - Multiple writes land in the freed object: `atomic_dec_if_positive()` on `context.copros`/`context.vas_windows`, plus cross-CPU `atomic_dec(&mm->context.active_cpus)`, `cpumask_clear_cpu()`, and a possible extra `mmdrop_lazy_tlb()` refcount underflow, giving write primitives into a reallocated live `mm_struct` (or SLUB freelist metadata) that are exploitable for further corruption.\nA:H - The use-after-free reliably corrupts freed slab memory and issues hardware TLB invalidations with a stale PID plus IPIs derived from a freed cpumask, producing oopses, `WARN_ON()` splats (fatal with `panic_on_warn`), slab corruption, and kernel panics — triggerable repeatedly by any local user."}]}],"affected":[{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"unaffected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["arch/powerpc/platforms/powernv/vas-window.c","arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/vas.c"],"versions":[{"version":"7bc6f71bdff5f8921e324da0a8fad6f4e2e63a85","lessThan":"f7d92313002b2d543500cc417d8079aaed1fb0a8","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"7bc6f71bdff5f8921e324da0a8fad6f4e2e63a85","lessThan":"4e82f92c349ea603736ade1e814861c0182a55ad","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"7bc6f71bdff5f8921e324da0a8fad6f4e2e63a85","lessThan":"db8657fdd53c5e3069149d7f957cb60e63027bb2","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"7bc6f71bdff5f8921e324da0a8fad6f4e2e63a85","lessThan":"421cd1544480f2458042fe7f4913a2069c4d7251","status":"affected","versionType":"git"},{"version":"7bc6f71bdff5f8921e324da0a8fad6f4e2e63a85","lessThan":"b4bda59b47879cce38a6ec5a01cd3cac702b5331","status":"affected","versionType":"git"}]},{"product":"Linux","vendor":"Linux","defaultStatus":"affected","repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","programFiles":["arch/powerpc/platforms/powernv/vas-window.c","arch/powerpc/platforms/pseries/vas.c"],"versions":[{"version":"5.14","status":"affected"},{"version":"0","lessThan":"5.14","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"5.15.121","lessThanOrEqual":"5.15.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.1.39","lessThanOrEqual":"6.1.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.3.13","lessThanOrEqual":"6.3.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.4.4","lessThanOrEqual":"6.4.*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"semver"},{"version":"6.5","lessThanOrEqual":"*","status":"unaffected","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}]}],"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"operator":"OR","negate":false,"cpeMatch":[{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"5.14","versionEndExcluding":"5.15.121"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"5.14","versionEndExcluding":"6.1.39"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"5.14","versionEndExcluding":"6.3.13"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"5.14","versionEndExcluding":"6.4.4"},{"vulnerable":true,"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionStartIncluding":"5.14","versionEndExcluding":"6.5"}]}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7d92313002b2d543500cc417d8079aaed1fb0a8"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e82f92c349ea603736ade1e814861c0182a55ad"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/db8657fdd53c5e3069149d7f957cb60e63027bb2"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/421cd1544480f2458042fe7f4913a2069c4d7251"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4bda59b47879cce38a6ec5a01cd3cac702b5331"}],"title":"powerpc/64s: Fix VAS mm use after free","x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}}}