GHSA-579Q-3Q2M-34FW

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2025-02-27 03:33 – Updated: 2026-07-14 15:31
VLAI
Details

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

pps: Fix a use-after-free

On a board running ntpd and gpsd, I'm seeing a consistent use-after-free in sys_exit() from gpsd when rebooting:

pps pps1: removed
------------[ cut here ]------------
kobject: '(null)' (00000000db4bec24): is not initialized, yet kobject_put() is being called.
WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 440 at lib/kobject.c:734 kobject_put+0x120/0x150
CPU: 2 UID: 299 PID: 440 Comm: gpsd Not tainted 6.11.0-rc6-00308-gb31c44928842 #1
Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 (DT)
pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
pc : kobject_put+0x120/0x150
lr : kobject_put+0x120/0x150
sp : ffffffc0803d3ae0
x29: ffffffc0803d3ae0 x28: ffffff8042dc9738 x27: 0000000000000001
x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffffff8042dc9040 x24: ffffff8042dc9440
x23: ffffff80402a4620 x22: ffffff8042ef4bd0 x21: ffffff80405cb600
x20: 000000000008001b x19: ffffff8040b3b6e0 x18: 0000000000000000
x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 696e6920746f6e20
x14: 7369203a29343263 x13: 205d303434542020 x12: 0000000000000000
x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 0000000000000000
x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000
x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000
Call trace:
 kobject_put+0x120/0x150
 cdev_put+0x20/0x3c
 __fput+0x2c4/0x2d8
 ____fput+0x1c/0x38
 task_work_run+0x70/0xfc
 do_exit+0x2a0/0x924
 do_group_exit+0x34/0x90
 get_signal+0x7fc/0x8c0
 do_signal+0x128/0x13b4
 do_notify_resume+0xdc/0x160
 el0_svc+0xd4/0xf8
 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x140/0x14c
 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

...followed by more symptoms of corruption, with similar stacks:

refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.
kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:62!
Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops - BUG: Fatal exception

This happens because pps_device_destruct() frees the pps_device with the embedded cdev immediately after calling cdev_del(), but, as the comment above cdev_del() notes, fops for previously opened cdevs are still callable even after cdev_del() returns. I think this bug has always been there: I can't explain why it suddenly started happening every time I reboot this particular board.

In commit d953e0e837e6 ("pps: Fix a use-after free bug when unregistering a source."), George Spelvin suggested removing the embedded cdev. That seems like the simplest way to fix this, so I've implemented his suggestion, using __register_chrdev() with pps_idr becoming the source of truth for which minor corresponds to which device.

But now that pps_idr defines userspace visibility instead of cdev_add(), we need to be sure the pps->dev refcount can't reach zero while userspace can still find it again. So, the idr_remove() call moves to pps_unregister_cdev(), and pps_idr now holds a reference to pps->dev.

pps_core: source serial1 got cdev (251:1)
<...>
pps pps1: removed
pps_core: unregistering pps1
pps_core: deallocating pps1
Severity
7.8 (High)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Show details on source website
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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2024-57979"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-416"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2025-02-27T02:15:11Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\npps: Fix a use-after-free\n\nOn a board running ntpd and gpsd, I\u0027m seeing a consistent use-after-free\nin sys_exit() from gpsd when rebooting:\n\n    pps pps1: removed\n    ------------[ cut here ]------------\n    kobject: \u0027(null)\u0027 (00000000db4bec24): is not initialized, yet kobject_put() is being called.\n    WARNING: CPU: 2 PID: 440 at lib/kobject.c:734 kobject_put+0x120/0x150\n    CPU: 2 UID: 299 PID: 440 Comm: gpsd Not tainted 6.11.0-rc6-00308-gb31c44928842 #1\n    Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1 (DT)\n    pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)\n    pc : kobject_put+0x120/0x150\n    lr : kobject_put+0x120/0x150\n    sp : ffffffc0803d3ae0\n    x29: ffffffc0803d3ae0 x28: ffffff8042dc9738 x27: 0000000000000001\n    x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffffff8042dc9040 x24: ffffff8042dc9440\n    x23: ffffff80402a4620 x22: ffffff8042ef4bd0 x21: ffffff80405cb600\n    x20: 000000000008001b x19: ffffff8040b3b6e0 x18: 0000000000000000\n    x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 696e6920746f6e20\n    x14: 7369203a29343263 x13: 205d303434542020 x12: 0000000000000000\n    x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : 0000000000000000\n    x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000\n    x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : 0000000000000000\n    x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000\n    Call trace:\n     kobject_put+0x120/0x150\n     cdev_put+0x20/0x3c\n     __fput+0x2c4/0x2d8\n     ____fput+0x1c/0x38\n     task_work_run+0x70/0xfc\n     do_exit+0x2a0/0x924\n     do_group_exit+0x34/0x90\n     get_signal+0x7fc/0x8c0\n     do_signal+0x128/0x13b4\n     do_notify_resume+0xdc/0x160\n     el0_svc+0xd4/0xf8\n     el0t_64_sync_handler+0x140/0x14c\n     el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194\n    ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---\n\n...followed by more symptoms of corruption, with similar stacks:\n\n    refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.\n    kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:62!\n    Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops - BUG: Fatal exception\n\nThis happens because pps_device_destruct() frees the pps_device with the\nembedded cdev immediately after calling cdev_del(), but, as the comment\nabove cdev_del() notes, fops for previously opened cdevs are still\ncallable even after cdev_del() returns. I think this bug has always\nbeen there: I can\u0027t explain why it suddenly started happening every time\nI reboot this particular board.\n\nIn commit d953e0e837e6 (\"pps: Fix a use-after free bug when\nunregistering a source.\"), George Spelvin suggested removing the\nembedded cdev. That seems like the simplest way to fix this, so I\u0027ve\nimplemented his suggestion, using __register_chrdev() with pps_idr\nbecoming the source of truth for which minor corresponds to which\ndevice.\n\nBut now that pps_idr defines userspace visibility instead of cdev_add(),\nwe need to be sure the pps-\u003edev refcount can\u0027t reach zero while\nuserspace can still find it again. So, the idr_remove() call moves to\npps_unregister_cdev(), and pps_idr now holds a reference to pps-\u003edev.\n\n    pps_core: source serial1 got cdev (251:1)\n    \u003c...\u003e\n    pps pps1: removed\n    pps_core: unregistering pps1\n    pps_core: deallocating pps1",
  "id": "GHSA-579q-3q2m-34fw",
  "modified": "2026-07-14T15:31:16Z",
  "published": "2025-02-27T03:33:59Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-57979"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-265688.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1a7735ab2cb9747518a7416fb5929e85442dec62"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/785c78ed0d39d1717cca3ef931d3e51337b5e90e"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e5ee3281dc09014367f5112b6d566ba36ea2d49"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85241f7de216f8298f6e48540ea13d7dcd100870"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/91932db1d96b2952299ce30c1c693d834d10ace6"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c4041b6b0a7a3def8cf3f3d6120ff337bc4c40f7"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c79a39dc8d060b9e64e8b0fa9d245d44befeefbe"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd3bbcb6b3a7caa5ce67de76723b6d8531fb7f64"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/03/msg00028.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00030.html"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}



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