Bug 2420251 (CVE-2023-53791)

Summary: CVE-2023-53791 kernel: md: fix warning for holder mismatch from export_rdev()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A logic inconsistency was identified in the Linux kernel md (multiple device) driver involving the export_rdev() function and associated block device holder bookkeeping. Under certain sequences where mddev->external is toggled, the code would use one holder (claim_rdev) to get a block device but a different holder (rdev) to put it back, leading to a mismatch in reference accounting. This could result in spurious kernel warnings and potential resource lifetime misbehavior when interacting with md devices via sysfs
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-12-09 01:03:17 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

md: fix warning for holder mismatch from export_rdev()

Commit a1d767191096 ("md: use mddev->external to select holder in
export_rdev()") fix the problem that 'claim_rdev' is used for
blkdev_get_by_dev() while 'rdev' is used for blkdev_put().

However, if mddev->external is changed from 0 to 1, then 'rdev' is used
for blkdev_get_by_dev() while 'claim_rdev' is used for blkdev_put(). And
this problem can be reporduced reliably by following:

New file: mdadm/tests/23rdev-lifetime

devname=${dev0##*/}
devt=`cat /sys/block/$devname/dev`
pid=""
runtime=2

clean_up_test() {
        pill -9 $pid
        echo clear > /sys/block/md0/md/array_state
}

trap 'clean_up_test' EXIT

add_by_sysfs() {
        while true; do
                echo $devt > /sys/block/md0/md/new_dev
        done
}

remove_by_sysfs(){
        while true; do
                echo remove > /sys/block/md0/md/dev-${devname}/state
        done
}

echo md0 > /sys/module/md_mod/parameters/new_array || die "create md0 failed"

add_by_sysfs &
pid="$pid $!"

remove_by_sysfs &
pid="$pid $!"

sleep $runtime
exit 0

Test cmd:

./test --save-logs --logdir=/tmp/ --keep-going --dev=loop --tests=23rdev-lifetime

Test result:

------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 960 at block/bdev.c:618 blkdev_put+0x27c/0x330
Modules linked in: multipath md_mod loop
CPU: 0 PID: 960 Comm: test Not tainted 6.5.0-rc2-00121-g01e55c376936-dirty #50
RIP: 0010:blkdev_put+0x27c/0x330
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 export_rdev.isra.23+0x50/0xa0 [md_mod]
 mddev_unlock+0x19d/0x300 [md_mod]
 rdev_attr_store+0xec/0x190 [md_mod]
 sysfs_kf_write+0x52/0x70
 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x19a/0x2a0
 vfs_write+0x3b5/0x770
 ksys_write+0x74/0x150
 __x64_sys_write+0x22/0x30
 do_syscall_64+0x40/0x90
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd

Fix the problem by recording if 'rdev' is used as holder.