CVE-2024-57877: arm64: ptrace: fix partial SETREGSET for NT_ARM_POE

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-01-11 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-908

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64: ptrace: fix partial SETREGSET for NT_ARM_POE Currently poe_set() doesn't initialize the temporary 'ctrl' variable, and a SETREGSET call with a length of zero will leave this uninitialized. Consequently an arbitrary value will be written back to target->thread.por_el0, potentially leaking up to 64 bits of memory from the kernel stack. The read is limited to a specific slot on the stack, and the issue does not provide a write mechanism. Fix this by initializing the temporary value before copying the regset from userspace, as for other regsets (e.g. NT_PRSTATUS, NT_PRFPREG, NT_ARM_SYSTEM_CALL). In the case of a zero-length write, the existing contents of POR_EL1 will be retained. Before this patch: | # ./poe-test | Attempting to write NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 = 0x900d900d900d900d | SETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=8) wrote 8 bytes | | Attempting to read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 | GETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=8) read 8 bytes | Read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 = 0x900d900d900d900d | | Attempting to write NT_ARM_POE (zero length) | SETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=0) wrote 0 bytes | | Attempting to read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 | GETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=8) read 8 bytes | Read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 = 0xffff8000839c3d50 After this patch: | # ./poe-test | Attempting to write NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 = 0x900d900d900d900d | SETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=8) wrote 8 bytes | | Attempting to read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 | GETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=8) read 8 bytes | Read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 = 0x900d900d900d900d | | Attempting to write NT_ARM_POE (zero length) | SETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=0) wrote 0 bytes | | Attempting to read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 | GETREGSET(nt=0x40f, len=8) read 8 bytes | Read NT_ARM_POE::por_el0 = 0x900d900d900d900d

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.12 before 6.12.5; 6.13-rc1 — fixed in 6.12.5

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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