Unity Linux 20.1070e Security Update: kernel (UTSA-2025-989654)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 272874

Synopsis

The Unity Linux host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The Unity Linux 20 host has a package installed that is affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the UTSA-2025-989654 advisory.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

rcu-tasks: Fix race in schedule and flush work

While booting secondary CPUs, cpus_read_[lock/unlock] is not keeping online cpumask stable. The transient online mask results in below calltrace.

[ 0.324121] CPU1: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000001 [0x410fd083] [ 0.346652] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU2 [ 0.347212] CPU2: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000002 [0x410fd083] [ 0.377255] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU3 [ 0.377823] CPU3: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000003 [0x410fd083] [ 0.379040] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 0.383662] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 10 at kernel/workqueue.c:3084 __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.384850] Modules linked in:
[ 0.385403] CPU: 0 PID: 10 Comm: rcu_tasks_rude_ Not tainted 5.17.0-rc3-v8+ #13 [ 0.386473] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4 (DT) [ 0.387289] pstate: 20000005 (nzCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 0.388308] pc : __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.388970] lr : __flush_work+0x80/0x138 [ 0.389620] sp : ffffffc00aaf3c60 [ 0.390139] x29: ffffffc00aaf3d20 x28: ffffffc009c16af0 x27: ffffff80f761df48 [ 0.391316] x26: 0000000000000004 x25: 0000000000000003 x24: 0000000000000100 [ 0.392493] x23: ffffffffffffffff x22: ffffffc009c16b10 x21: ffffffc009c16b28 [ 0.393668] x20: ffffffc009e53861 x19: ffffff80f77fbf40 x18: 00000000d744fcc9 [ 0.394842] x17: 000000000000000b x16: 00000000000001c2 x15: ffffffc009e57550 [ 0.396016] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffffffffffffffff x12: 0000000100000000 [ 0.397190] x11: 0000000000000462 x10: ffffff8040258008 x9 : 0000000100000000 [ 0.398364] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : ffffffc0093c8bf4 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.399538] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : ffffffc00a976e40 x3 : ffffffc00810444c [ 0.400711] x2 : 0000000000000004 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.401886] Call trace:
[ 0.402309] __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.402941] schedule_on_each_cpu+0x228/0x278 [ 0.403693] rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp+0x130/0x144 [ 0.404502] rcu_tasks_kthread+0x220/0x254 [ 0.405264] kthread+0x174/0x1ac [ 0.405837] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [ 0.406456] irq event stamp: 102 [ 0.406966] hardirqs last enabled at (101): [<ffffffc0093c8468>] _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x78/0xb4 [ 0.408304] hardirqs last disabled at (102): [<ffffffc0093b8270>] el1_dbg+0x24/0x5c [ 0.409410] softirqs last enabled at (54): [<ffffffc0081b80c8>] local_bh_enable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.410645] softirqs last disabled at (50): [<ffffffc0081b809c>] local_bh_disable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.411890] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 0.413000] smp: Brought up 1 node, 4 CPUs [ 0.413762] SMP: Total of 4 processors activated.
[ 0.414566] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL0 Support [ 0.415414] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL1 Support [ 0.416278] CPU features: detected: CRC32 instructions [ 0.447021] Callback from call_rcu_tasks_rude() invoked.
[ 0.506693] Callback from call_rcu_tasks() invoked.

This commit therefore fixes this issue by applying a single-CPU optimization to the RCU Tasks Rude grace-period process. The key point here is that the purpose of this RCU flavor is to force a schedule on each online CPU since some past event. But the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function runs in the context of the RCU Tasks Rude's grace-period kthread, so there must already have been a context switch on the current CPU since the call to either synchronize_rcu_tasks_rude() or call_rcu_tasks_rude().
So if there is only a single CPU online, RCU Tasks Rude's grace-period kthread does not need to anything at all.

It turns out that the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function's call to schedule_on_each_cpu() causes problems during early boot. During that time, there is only one online CPU, namely the boot CPU. Therefore, applying this single-CPU optimization fixes early-boot instances of this problem.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Unity Linux security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected kernel package.

See Also

http://www.nessus.org/u?2fd6b25d

http://www.nessus.org/u?7293a1b5

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49540

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 272874

File Name: unity_linux_UTSA-2025-989654.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Published: 11/5/2025

Updated: 11/5/2025

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.1

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Low

Base Score: 3.8

Temporal Score: 2.8

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:H/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2022-49540

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.7

Temporal Score: 4.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, Host/UOS-Server/release, Host/UOS-Server/rpm-list

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 11/5/2025

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/15/2022

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2022-49540