Read the docs
TI-2024-25848 Aliases CVE-2024-38613GHSA-hfvw-jf8h-qv56

m68k: Fix spinlock race in kernel thread creation

Priority LOW 21CWE-362Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: m68k: Fix spinlock race in kernel thread creation Context switching does take care to retain the correct lock owner across the switch from 'prev' to 'next' tasks. This does rely on interrupts remaining disabled for the entire duration of the switch. This condition is guaranteed for normal process creation and context switching between already running processes, because both 'prev' and 'next' already have interrupts disabled in their saved copies of the status register. The situation is different for newly created kernel threads. The status register is set to PS_S in copy_thread(), which does leave the IPL at 0. Upon restoring the 'next' thread's status register in switch_to() aka resume(), interrupts then become enabled prematurely. resume() then returns via ret_from_kernel_thread() and schedule_tail() where run queue lock is released (see finish_task_switch() and finish_lock_switch()). A timer interrupt calling scheduler_tick() before the lock is released in finish_task_switch() will find the lock already taken, with the current task as lock owner. This causes a spinlock recursion warning as reported by Guenter Roeck. As far as I can ascertain, this race has been opened in commit 533e6903bea0 ("m68k: split ret_from_fork(), simplify kernel_thread()") but I haven't done a detailed study of kernel history so it may well predate that commit. Interrupts cannot be disabled in the saved status register copy for kernel threads (init will complain about interrupts disabled when finally starting user space). Disable interrupts temporarily when switching the tasks' register sets in resume(). Note that a simple oriw 0x700,%sr after restoring sr is not enough here - this leaves enough of a race for the 'spinlock recursion' warning to still be observed. Tested on ARAnyM and qemu (Quadra 800 emulation).

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00179 7th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Linux (Linux): 4.19.316, 5.4.278, 5.10.219 +6

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux3.7 and later4.19.316, 5.4.278, 5.10.219, 5.15.161, 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3, 6.10Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 3.7 and later Fixed in 4.19.316, 5.4.278, 5.10.219, 5.15.161, 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3, 6.10 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*3.7 to before 4.19.316; 4.20 to before 5.4.278; 5.5 to before 5.10.219; 5.11 to before 5.15.161; 5.16 to before 6.1.93; 6.2 to before 6.6.33; 6.7 to before 6.8.12; 6.9 to before 6.9.3VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.7 to before 4.19.316; 4.20 to before 5.4.278; 5.5 to before 5.10.219; 5.11 to before 5.15.161; 5.16 to before 6.1.93; 6.2 to before 6.6.33; 6.7 to before 6.8.12; 6.9 to before 6.9.3 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.19.316, 5.4.278, 5.10.219, 5.15.161, 6.1.93, 6.6.33, 6.8.12, 6.9.3, 6.10

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 4 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-38613
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-hfvw-jf8h-qv56

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources