usb: gadget: f_ncm: fix potential NULL ptr deref in ncm_bitrate()
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-476.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: f_ncm: fix potential NULL ptr deref in ncm_bitrate() In Google internal bug 265639009 we've received an (as yet) unreproducible crash report from an aarch64 GKI 5.10.149-android13 running device. AFAICT the source code is at: https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/common/+/refs/tags/ASB-2022-12-05_13-5.10 The call stack is: ncm_close() -> ncm_notify() -> ncm_do_notify() with the crash at: ncm_do_notify+0x98/0x270 Code: 79000d0b b9000a6c f940012a f9400269 (b9405d4b) Which I believe disassembles to (I don't know ARM assembly, but it looks sane enough to me...): // halfword (16-bit) store presumably to event->wLength (at offset 6 of struct usb_cdc_notification) 0B 0D 00 79 strh w11, [x8, #6] // word (32-bit) store presumably to req->Length (at offset 8 of struct usb_request) 6C 0A 00 B9 str w12, [x19, #8] // x10 (NULL) was read here from offset 0 of valid pointer x9 // IMHO we're reading 'cdev->gadget' and getting NULL // gadget is indeed at offset 0 of struct usb_composite_dev 2A 01 40 F9 ldr x10, [x9] // loading req->buf pointer, which is at offset 0 of struct usb_request 69 02 40 F9 ldr x9, [x19] // x10 is null, crash, appears to be attempt to read cdev->gadget->max_speed 4B 5D 40 B9 ldr w11, [x10, #0x5c] which seems to line up with ncm_do_notify() case NCM_NOTIFY_SPEED code fragment: event->wLength = cpu_to_le16(8); req->length = NCM_STATUS_BYTECOUNT; /* SPEED_CHANGE data is up/down speeds in bits/sec */ data = req->buf + sizeof *event; data[0] = cpu_to_le32(ncm_bitrate(cdev->gadget)); My analysis of registers and NULL ptr deref crash offset (Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 000000000000005c) heavily suggests that the crash is due to 'cdev->gadget' being NULL when executing: data[0] = cpu_to_le32(ncm_bitrate(cdev->gadget)); which calls: ncm_bitrate(NULL) which then calls: gadget_is_superspeed(NULL) which reads ((struct usb_gadget *)NULL)->max_speed and hits a panic. AFAICT, if I'm counting right, the offset of max_speed is indeed 0x5C. (remember there's a GKI KABI reservation of 16 bytes in struct work_struct) It's not at all clear to me how this is all supposed to work... but returning 0 seems much better than panic-ing...
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 | 4.9 and later | 4.14.304, 4.19.271, 5.4.230, 5.10.165, 5.15.90, 6.1.8, 6.2 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.9 and later Fixed in 4.14.304, 4.19.271, 5.4.230, 5.10.165, 5.15.90, 6.1.8, 6.2 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 5
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 4.14.304; 4.15 to before 4.19.271; 4.20 to before 5.4.230; 5.5 to before 5.10.165; 5.11 to before 5.15.90; 5.16 to before 6.1.8 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc1 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* | 6.2 rc4 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 4.14.304; 4.15 to before 4.19.271; 4.20 to before 5.4.230; 5.5 to before 5.10.165; 5.11 to before 5.15.90; 5.16 to before 6.1.8 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.2:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 6.2 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 4.14.304, 4.19.271, 5.4.230, 5.10.165, 5.15.90, 6.1.8, 6.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-52894
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-9r79-4jhv-2rfr
References
Patch 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fef6b29671b66dfb71f17e337c1ad14b5a2cedae
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63d161f29cd39c050e8873aa36e0c9fc013bb763
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a21da7f7aae618c785f7e4a275d43c06dc8412b6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e92c70059178da751e5af7de02384b7dfadb5ec7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a69c8dfb85b44be9cc223be07d35cc3a9baefbea
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/09e4507ec8ef2d44da6ba4092b8ee2d81f216497
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6ec929595c7443250b2a4faea988c62019d5cd2
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- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2023-52894 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-52894 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-9r79-4jhv-2rfr · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-52894 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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