From 3f4ae5fab613dca01d6a2a8210dd832e009fcf47 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jann Horn Date: Thu, 6 Aug 2026 17:55:02 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] apparmor: fix cred UAF caused by begin_current_label_crit_section() AppArmor's begin_current_label_crit_section() is a scary function called from lots of LSM hooks (in particular VFS/socket-related ones) that checks if the label referenced by the current creds is marked FLAG_STALE, and if so, attempts to use aa_replace_current_label() to replace the creds with an updated version that uses a new label. The first problem with this is that it would directly lead to UAF of `struct cred` if anything in the kernel takes a pointer to the current creds and accesses these past a security hook invocation that replaces creds, like so: ``` const struct cred *cred = current_cred(); alloc_file_pseudo(...); uid_t uid = cred->euid; ``` I don't know if anything in the kernel actually does this, but I think it is very surprising that this pattern could lead to UAF. The second problem is that things go wrong when aa_replace_current_label() runs with overridden credentials. aa_replace_current_label() bails out if `current_cred() != current_real_cred()` (mirroring the check in proc_pid_attr_write()), but this check can't actually reliably detect overridden credentials because the overridden creds can be the same as the objective creds. So in approximately the following scenario, things go wrong: 1. task begins with (as both objective and subjective creds), with refcount=2 2. task grabs an extra reference on for overriding 3. task calls override_creds(), which returns a pointer to the old subjective creds () 4. task enters AppArmor LSM hook 5. AppArmor checks that objective/subjective creds are equal 6. AppArmor replaces both cred pointers with and drops 2 refs on 7. task leaves AppArmor LSM hook 8. task calls revert_creds() 9. now task->cred is while task->real_cred is , but the task_struct logically holds two references to 10. another task drops the extra reference on that was used for overriding, refcount drops to 0 11. now task->real_cred points to freed creds At this point, any access to current_cred() will be UAF. I have a test case where I run aa-disable on a profile while a process using that profile is blocked on splice() from a FUSE passthrough file into a full pipe; after the profile update, the pipe becomes empty, splice() resumes, the credentials go out of sync, and a subsequent getuid() syscall results in a KASAN UAF splat. To fix this, instead of directly replacing creds, do it via task_work that will run at the end of the current syscall. (The point in time at which the cred replacement happens should have no correctness impact; it is just a performance optimization to avoid unnecessarily touching the refcount of the new label.) Note that AppArmor still performs direct cred replacements in the sb_pivotroot LSM hook after this change, and that direct cred replacements can still happen in VFS ->write() callbacks via proc_pid_attr_write(). There are two options for what to do with aa_dup_task_ctx(): Either explicitly reset new->label_replacement_pending after the entire aa_task_ctx has been copied, or switch to manually copying members over. I am switching to manually copying members over because that should make bugs more obvious. Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Fixes: c75afcd153f6 ("AppArmor: contexts used in attaching policy to system objects") Signed-off-by: Jann Horn Signed-off-by: John Johansen --- security/apparmor/include/cred.h | 6 +----- security/apparmor/include/task.h | 15 +++++++++++---- security/apparmor/task.c | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-) diff --git a/security/apparmor/include/cred.h b/security/apparmor/include/cred.h index 2b6098149b15..0e8b67159f56 100644 --- a/security/apparmor/include/cred.h +++ b/security/apparmor/include/cred.h @@ -222,13 +222,9 @@ static inline struct aa_label *begin_current_label_crit_section(void) { struct aa_label *label = aa_current_raw_label(); - might_sleep(); - if (label_is_stale(label)) { label = aa_get_newest_label(label); - if (aa_replace_current_label(label) == 0) - /* task cred will keep the reference */ - aa_put_label(label); + aa_schedule_stale_label_replacement(); } return label; diff --git a/security/apparmor/include/task.h b/security/apparmor/include/task.h index 017d8b06b8f2..a8030ed78ff2 100644 --- a/security/apparmor/include/task.h +++ b/security/apparmor/include/task.h @@ -26,15 +26,22 @@ static inline struct aa_task_ctx *task_ctx(struct task_struct *task) * @onexec: profile to transition to on next exec (MAY BE NULL) * @previous: profile the task may return to (MAY BE NULL) * @token: magic value the task must know for returning to @previous_profile + * @label_replacement_tw: for aa_schedule_stale_label_replacement() + * @label_replacement_pending: is @label_replacement_tw pending? + * + * When changing this, check if aa_dup_task_ctx() needs to be updated. */ struct aa_task_ctx { struct aa_label *nnp; struct aa_label *onexec; struct aa_label *previous; u64 token; + struct callback_head label_replacement_tw; + bool label_replacement_pending; }; int aa_replace_current_label(struct aa_label *label); +void aa_schedule_stale_label_replacement(void); void aa_set_current_onexec(struct aa_label *label, bool stack); int aa_set_current_hat(struct aa_label *label, u64 token); int aa_restore_previous_label(u64 cookie); @@ -61,10 +68,10 @@ static inline void aa_free_task_ctx(struct aa_task_ctx *ctx) static inline void aa_dup_task_ctx(struct aa_task_ctx *new, const struct aa_task_ctx *old) { - *new = *old; - aa_get_label(new->nnp); - aa_get_label(new->previous); - aa_get_label(new->onexec); + new->nnp = aa_get_label(old->nnp); + new->onexec = aa_get_label(old->onexec); + new->previous = aa_get_label(old->previous); + new->token = old->token; } /** diff --git a/security/apparmor/task.c b/security/apparmor/task.c index b9fb3738124e..e16ff4130bc2 100644 --- a/security/apparmor/task.c +++ b/security/apparmor/task.c @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ #include #include +#include #include "include/path.h" #include "include/audit.h" @@ -89,6 +90,32 @@ int aa_replace_current_label(struct aa_label *label) return 0; } +static void aa_replace_stale_label_tw_func(struct callback_head *tw) +{ + struct aa_task_ctx *ctx = task_ctx(current); + struct aa_label *label; + + ctx->label_replacement_pending = false; + label = aa_current_raw_label(); + if (!label_is_stale(label)) + return; + label = aa_get_newest_label(label); + aa_replace_current_label(label); + aa_put_label(label); +} + +/* replace the current task's stale label on syscall return */ +void aa_schedule_stale_label_replacement(void) +{ + struct aa_task_ctx *ctx = task_ctx(current); + + if (ctx->label_replacement_pending) + return; + init_task_work(&ctx->label_replacement_tw, aa_replace_stale_label_tw_func); + if (task_work_add(current, &ctx->label_replacement_tw, TWA_RESUME) == 0) + ctx->label_replacement_pending = true; +} + /** * aa_set_current_onexec - set the tasks change_profile to happen onexec