pps: Fix a use-after-free
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Code execution
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 fixed, 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-416 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
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
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
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 | 3.2.40 to before 3.3; 3.4.87 to before 3.5; 3.8.1 to before 3.9 | 3.3, 3.5, 3.9 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 3.9 and later | 5.4.291, 5.10.235, 5.15.179, 6.1.129, 6.6.76, 6.12.13, 6.13.2, 6.14 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 3.2.40 to before 3.3; 3.4.87 to before 3.5; 3.8.1 to before 3.9 Fixed in 3.3, 3.5, 3.9 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 3.9 and later Fixed in 5.4.291, 5.10.235, 5.15.179, 6.1.129, 6.6.76, 6.12.13, 6.13.2, 6.14 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 3.2.40 to before 3.3; 3.4.87 to before 3.5; 3.8.1 to before 5.4.291; 5.5 to before 5.10.235; 5.11 to before 5.15.179; 5.16 to before 6.1.129; 6.2 to before 6.6.76; 6.7 to before 6.12.13; 6.13 to before 6.13.2 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.2.40 to before 3.3; 3.4.87 to before 3.5; 3.8.1 to before 5.4.291; 5.5 to before 5.10.235; 5.11 to before 5.15.179; 5.16 to before 6.1.129; 6.2 to before 6.6.76; 6.7 to before 6.12.13; 6.13 to before 6.13.2 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 3.3, 3.5, 3.9
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.291, 5.10.235, 5.15.179, 6.1.129, 6.6.76, 6.12.13, 6.13.2, 6.14
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2025:2473 Released 2025-03-10 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-553.44.1.el8_10, kernel-4.18.0-553.44.1.el8_10, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-553.44.1.el8_10 +19
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-553.44.1.el8_10
- RHSA-2025:2474 Released 2025-03-10 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel-rt security update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.44.1.rt7.385.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.44.1.rt7.385.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.44.1.rt7.385.el8_10 +9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.44.1.rt7.385.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.44.1.rt7.385.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.44.1.rt7.385.el8_10 +7
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:2473 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:2473 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:2474 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2025:2474 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2024-57979
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-579q-3q2m-34fw
References
Patch 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/785c78ed0d39d1717cca3ef931d3e51337b5e90e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1a7735ab2cb9747518a7416fb5929e85442dec62
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c4041b6b0a7a3def8cf3f3d6120ff337bc4c40f7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/91932db1d96b2952299ce30c1c693d834d10ace6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cd3bbcb6b3a7caa5ce67de76723b6d8531fb7f64
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e5ee3281dc09014367f5112b6d566ba36ea2d49
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/85241f7de216f8298f6e48540ea13d7dcd100870
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c79a39dc8d060b9e64e8b0fa9d245d44befeefbe
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
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- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2024-57979 · CVE Program
- CVE-2024-57979 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-579q-3q2m-34fw · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2024-57979 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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