GHSA-37QC-PRGQ-XWCM

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2024-07-12 15:31 – Updated: 2025-11-04 00:30
VLAI
Details

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

ax25: Fix refcount imbalance on inbound connections

When releasing a socket in ax25_release(), we call netdev_put() to decrease the refcount on the associated ax.25 device. However, the execution path for accepting an incoming connection never calls netdev_hold(). This imbalance leads to refcount errors, and ultimately to kernel crashes.

A typical call trace for the above situation will start with one of the following errors:

refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory.
refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.

And will then have a trace like:

Call Trace:
<TASK>
? show_regs+0x64/0x70
? __warn+0x83/0x120
? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100
? report_bug+0x158/0x190
? prb_read_valid+0x20/0x30
? handle_bug+0x3e/0x70
? exc_invalid_op+0x1c/0x70
? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1f/0x30
? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100
? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100
ax25_release+0x2ad/0x360
__sock_release+0x35/0xa0
sock_close+0x19/0x20
[...]

On reboot (or any attempt to remove the interface), the kernel gets stuck in an infinite loop:

unregister_netdevice: waiting for ax0 to become free. Usage count = 0

This patch corrects these issues by ensuring that we call netdev_hold() and ax25_dev_hold() for new connections in ax25_accept(). This makes the logic leading to ax25_accept() match the logic for ax25_bind(): in both cases we increment the refcount, which is ultimately decremented in ax25_release().

Severity
5.5 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Show details on source website
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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2024-40910"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2024-07-12T13:15:14Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nax25: Fix refcount imbalance on inbound connections\n\nWhen releasing a socket in ax25_release(), we call netdev_put() to\ndecrease the refcount on the associated ax.25 device. However, the\nexecution path for accepting an incoming connection never calls\nnetdev_hold(). This imbalance leads to refcount errors, and ultimately\nto kernel crashes.\n\nA typical call trace for the above situation will start with one of the\nfollowing errors:\n\n    refcount_t: decrement hit 0; leaking memory.\n    refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.\n\nAnd will then have a trace like:\n\n    Call Trace:\n    \u003cTASK\u003e\n    ? show_regs+0x64/0x70\n    ? __warn+0x83/0x120\n    ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100\n    ? report_bug+0x158/0x190\n    ? prb_read_valid+0x20/0x30\n    ? handle_bug+0x3e/0x70\n    ? exc_invalid_op+0x1c/0x70\n    ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x1f/0x30\n    ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100\n    ? refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x100\n    ax25_release+0x2ad/0x360\n    __sock_release+0x35/0xa0\n    sock_close+0x19/0x20\n    [...]\n\nOn reboot (or any attempt to remove the interface), the kernel gets\nstuck in an infinite loop:\n\n    unregister_netdevice: waiting for ax0 to become free. Usage count = 0\n\nThis patch corrects these issues by ensuring that we call netdev_hold()\nand ax25_dev_hold() for new connections in ax25_accept(). This makes the\nlogic leading to ax25_accept() match the logic for ax25_bind(): in both\ncases we increment the refcount, which is ultimately decremented in\nax25_release().",
  "id": "GHSA-37qc-prgq-xwcm",
  "modified": "2025-11-04T00:30:53Z",
  "published": "2024-07-12T15:31:27Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-40910"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3c34fb0bd4a4237592c5ecb5b2e2531900c55774"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/52100fd74ad07b53a4666feafff1cd11436362d3"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a723a6c8d4831cc8e2c7b0c9f3f0c010d4671964"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f4df9d6c8d4e4c818252b0419c2165d66eabd4eb"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/01/msg00001.html"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}



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