CVE-2022-49196
Published: 26 February 2025
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/pseries: Fix use after free in remove_phb_dynamic() In remove_phb_dynamic() we use &phb->io_resource, after we've called device_unregister(&host_bridge->dev). But the unregister may have freed phb, because pcibios_free_controller_deferred() is the release function for the host_bridge. If there are no outstanding references when we call device_unregister() then phb will be freed out from under us. This has gone mainly unnoticed, but with slub_debug and page_poison enabled it can lead to a crash: PID: 7574 TASK: c0000000d492cb80 CPU: 13 COMMAND: "drmgr" #0 [c0000000e4f075a0] crash_kexec at c00000000027d7dc #1 [c0000000e4f075d0] oops_end at c000000000029608 #2 [c0000000e4f07650] __bad_page_fault at c0000000000904b4 #3 [c0000000e4f076c0] do_bad_slb_fault at c00000000009a5a8 #4 [c0000000e4f076f0] data_access_slb_common_virt at c000000000008b30 Data SLB Access [380] exception frame: R0: c000000000167250 R1: c0000000e4f07a00 R2: c000000002a46100 R3: c000000002b39ce8 R4: 00000000000000c0 R5: 00000000000000a9 R6: 3894674d000000c0 R7: 0000000000000000 R8: 00000000000000ff R9: 0000000000000100 R10: 6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b R11: 0000000000008000 R12: c00000000023da80 R13: c0000009ffd38b00 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 000000011c87f0f0 R16: 0000000000000006 R17: 0000000000000003 R18: 0000000000000002 R19: 0000000000000004 R20: 0000000000000005 R21: 000000011c87ede8 R22: 000000011c87c5a8 R23: 000000011c87d3a0 R24: 0000000000000000 R25: 0000000000000001 R26: c0000000e4f07cc8 R27: c00000004d1cc400 R28: c0080000031d00e8 R29: c00000004d23d800 R30: c00000004d1d2400 R31: c00000004d1d2540 NIP: c000000000167258 MSR: 8000000000009033 OR3: c000000000e9f474 CTR: 0000000000000000 LR: c000000000167250 XER: 0000000020040003 CCR: 0000000024088420 MQ: 0000000000000000 DAR: 6b6b6b6b6b6b6ba3 DSISR: c0000000e4f07920 Syscall Result: fffffffffffffff2 [NIP : release_resource+56] [LR : release_resource+48] #5 [c0000000e4f07a00] release_resource at c000000000167258 (unreliable) #6 [c0000000e4f07a30] remove_phb_dynamic at c000000000105648 #7 [c0000000e4f07ab0] dlpar_remove_slot at c0080000031a09e8 [rpadlpar_io] #8 [c0000000e4f07b50] remove_slot_store at c0080000031a0b9c [rpadlpar_io] #9 [c0000000e4f07be0] kobj_attr_store at c000000000817d8c #10 [c0000000e4f07c00] sysfs_kf_write at c00000000063e504 #11 [c0000000e4f07c20] kernfs_fop_write_iter at c00000000063d868 #12 [c0000000e4f07c70] new_sync_write at c00000000054339c #13 [c0000000e4f07d10] vfs_write at c000000000546624 #14 [c0000000e4f07d60] ksys_write at c0000000005469f4 #15 [c0000000e4f07db0] system_call_exception at c000000000030840 #16 [c0000000e4f07e10] system_call_vectored_common at c00000000000c168 To avoid it, we can take a reference to the host_bridge->dev until we're done using phb. Then when we drop the reference the phb will be freed.
Security Summary
CVE-2022-49196 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's powerpc/pseries subsystem, specifically within the remove_phb_dynamic() function. The issue arises when the function accesses &phb->io_resource after calling device_unregister(&host_bridge->dev), which can free the phb structure via pcibios_free_controller_deferred() if no references remain. This affects powerpc/pseries configurations, particularly those involving dynamic PHB (PCI Host Bridge) removal, and has been observed to cause kernel crashes when debugging options like slub_debug and page_poison are enabled.
A local attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity (AC:L) and no user interaction (UI:N) by writing to the relevant sysfs attribute, such as via remove_slot_store in the rpadlpar_io module during dlpar_remove_slot operations (e.g., triggered by the "drmgr" command). Successful exploitation leads to a crash, as evidenced by the provided stack trace showing a bad page fault in release_resource, resulting in high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CVSS 7.8: C:H/I:H/A:H). The CWE-416 flaw enables potential memory corruption, though observed effects are primarily denial-of-service via kernel panic.
Kernel patches addressing this vulnerability are available in stable trees via the referenced commits, including 33d39efb61a84e055ca2386157d39ebbdf6b7d31, 403f9e0bc5535a0a5184d1352fa3a70e6ffacb6f, 895ca4ae1f72e0a0160ab162723e59c9f265ec93, and fe2640bd7a62f1f7c3f55fbda31084085075bc30. These fixes mitigate the issue by taking an additional reference to host_bridge->dev until phb usage completes, preventing premature freeing. Security practitioners should apply these updates to affected powerpc/pseries kernels to eliminate the use-after-free risk.
Details
- CWE(s)