In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
dm cache: fix dirty mapping checking in passthrough mode switching
As mentioned in commit 9b1cc9f251af ("dm cache: share cache-metadata object across inactive and active DM tables"), dm-cache assumed table reload occurs after suspension, while LVM's table preload breaks this assumption. The dirty mapping check for passthrough mode was designed around this assumption and is performed during table creation, causing the check to fail with preload while metadata updates are ongoing. This risks loading dirty mappings into passthrough mode, resulting in data loss.
Reproduce steps:
dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0"
dmsetup create cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192"
dmsetup create corig --table "0 262144 linear /dev/sdc 262144"
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/cmeta bs=4k count=1 oflag=direct
dmsetup create cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 writeback smq
2 migration_threshold 0"
dmsetup reload cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 passthrough smq 0"
fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=populate --rw=write --bs=4k
--direct=1 --size=64k
dmsetup resume cache
Fix by moving the checks to the preresume phase to support table preloading. Also remove the unused function dm_cache_metadata_all_clean.
| Software | Affected versions |
|---|---|
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 3.13, < 5.10.258 |
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 5.11, < 5.15.209 |
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 5.16, < 6.1.175 |
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 6.2, < 6.6.141 |
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 6.7, < 6.12.91 |
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 6.13, < 6.18.33 |
| linux / linux_kernel | >= 6.19, < 7.0.10 |
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CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
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