Vulnerability · Published Jun 20, 2024 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2022-48769efi: runtime: avoid EFIv2 runtime services on Apple x86 machines

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 12% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 87.5% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: efi: runtime: avoid EFIv2 runtime services on Apple x86 machines Aditya reports [0] that his recent MacbookPro crashes in the firmware when using the variable services at runtime. The culprit appears to be a call to QueryVariableInfo(), which we did not use to call on Apple x86 machines in the past as they only upgraded from EFI v1.10 to EFI v2.40 firmware fairly recently, and QueryVariableInfo() (along with UpdateCapsule() et al) was added in EFI v2.00. The only runtime service introduced in EFI v2.00 that we actually use in Linux is QueryVariableInfo(), as the capsule based ones are optional, generally not used at runtime (all the LVFS/fwupd firmware update infrastructure uses helper EFI programs that invoke capsule update at boot time, not runtime), and not implemented by Apple machines in the first place. QueryVariableInfo() is used to 'safely' set variables, i.e., only when there is enough space. This prevents machines with buggy firmwares from corrupting their NVRAMs when they run out of space. Given that Apple machines have been using EFI v1.10 services only for the longest time (the EFI v2.0 spec was released in 2006, and Linux support for the newly introduced runtime services was added in 2011, but the MacbookPro12,1 released in 2015 still claims to be EFI v1.10 only), let's avoid the EFI v2.0 ones on all Apple x86 machines. [0] https://lore.kernel.org/all/6D757C75-65B1-468B-842D-10410081A8E4@live.com/

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux5.16.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48769
Debian:13linux5.16.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48769
Debian:14linux5.16.7-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-48769

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux d6cf86d8f23253225fe2a763d627ecf7dfee9dae – before b0f1cc093bc2493ac259c53766fd2b800e085807d6cf86d8f23253225fe2a763d627ecf7dfee9dae – before 3df52448978802ae15dcebf66beba1029df957b4d6cf86d8f23253225fe2a763d627ecf7dfee9dae – before a4085859411c825c321c9b55b8a9dc5a128a6684d6cf86d8f23253225fe2a763d627ecf7dfee9dae – before f5390cd0b43c2e54c7cf5506c7da4a37c5cef74613fcf5d1c5fe491aeb0b0f34a46d88134432edb10c9673834740afdfa7c172b1b19c6b3ec5bc39078e221a3c057d674e3c1cc4d1d8fe65ac4697104bb3ab8b31e8b3c1ff4971bd52d0c8ebde5cfbdb97
Linux Linux 3.7

References