USB: core: Fix race by not overwriting udev->descriptor in hub_port_init()
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Physical
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: USB: core: Fix race by not overwriting udev->descriptor in hub_port_init() Syzbot reported an out-of-bounds read in sysfs.c:read_descriptors(): BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in read_descriptors+0x263/0x280 drivers/usb/core/sysfs.c:883 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88801e78b8c8 by task udevd/5011 CPU: 0 PID: 5011 Comm: udevd Not tainted 6.4.0-rc6-syzkaller-00195-g40f71e7cd3c6 #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 05/27/2023 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xd9/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:106 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x2c/0x3c0 mm/kasan/report.c:351 print_report mm/kasan/report.c:462 [inline] kasan_report+0x11c/0x130 mm/kasan/report.c:572 read_descriptors+0x263/0x280 drivers/usb/core/sysfs.c:883 ... Allocated by task 758: ... __do_kmalloc_node mm/slab_common.c:966 [inline] __kmalloc+0x5e/0x190 mm/slab_common.c:979 kmalloc include/linux/slab.h:563 [inline] kzalloc include/linux/slab.h:680 [inline] usb_get_configuration+0x1f7/0x5170 drivers/usb/core/config.c:887 usb_enumerate_device drivers/usb/core/hub.c:2407 [inline] usb_new_device+0x12b0/0x19d0 drivers/usb/core/hub.c:2545 As analyzed by Khazhy Kumykov, the cause of this bug is a race between read_descriptors() and hub_port_init(): The first routine uses a field in udev->descriptor, not expecting it to change, while the second overwrites it. Prior to commit 45bf39f8df7f ("USB: core: Don't hold device lock while reading the "descriptors" sysfs file") this race couldn't occur, because the routines were mutually exclusive thanks to the device locking. Removing that locking from read_descriptors() exposed it to the race. The best way to fix the bug is to keep hub_port_init() from changing udev->descriptor once udev has been initialized and registered. Drivers expect the descriptors stored in the kernel to be immutable; we should not undermine this expectation. In fact, this change should have been made long ago. So now hub_port_init() will take an additional argument, specifying a buffer in which to store the device descriptor it reads. (If udev has not yet been initialized, the buffer pointer will be NULL and then hub_port_init() will store the device descriptor in udev as before.) This eliminates the data race responsible for the out-of-bounds read. The changes to hub_port_init() appear more extensive than they really are, because of indentation changes resulting from an attempt to avoid writing to other parts of the usb_device structure after it has been initialized. Similar changes should be made to the code that reads the BOS descriptor, but that can be handled in a separate patch later on. This patch is sufficient to fix the bug found by syzbot.
Why it matters now
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
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 5.10.171 to before 5.10.195; 5.15.97 to before 5.15.132; 6.1.15 to before 6.1.53; 4.14.308 to before 4.15; 4.19.275 to before 4.20; 5.4.234 to before 5.5; 6.2.2 to before 6.3 | 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 6.3 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.3 and later | 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16, 6.5.3, 6.6 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.10.171 to before 5.10.195; 5.15.97 to before 5.15.132; 6.1.15 to before 6.1.53; 4.14.308 to before 4.15; 4.19.275 to before 4.20; 5.4.234 to before 5.5; 6.2.2 to before 6.3 Fixed in 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 6.3 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.3 and later Fixed in 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16, 6.5.3, 6.6 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 5.10.171 to before 5.10.195; 5.15.97 to before 5.15.132; 6.1.15 to before 6.1.53; 6.3 to before 6.4.16; 6.5 to before 6.5.3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.10.171 to before 5.10.195; 5.15.97 to before 5.15.132; 6.1.15 to before 6.1.53; 6.3 to before 6.4.16; 6.5 to before 6.5.3 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 6.3
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.195, 5.15.132, 6.1.53, 6.4.16, 6.5.3, 6.6
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-52886
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-xxqc-5rhp-jfq2
References
Patch 6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9d241c5d9a9b7ad95c90c6520272fe404d5ac88f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7fe9d87996062f5eb0ca476ad0257f79bf43aaf5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8186596a663506b1124bede9fde6f243ef9f37ee
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b4a074b1fb222164ed7d5c0b8c922dc4a0840848
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b9fbfb349eacc0820f91c797d7f0a3ac7a4935b5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ff33299ec8bb80cdcc073ad9c506bd79bb2ed20b
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Sources
- CVE-2023-52886 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-52886 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xxqc-5rhp-jfq2 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-52886 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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