Revert "tty: n_gsm: fix UAF in gsm_cleanup_mux"

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "tty: n_gsm: fix UAF in gsm_cleanup_mux" This reverts commit 9b9c8195f3f0d74a826077fc1c01b9ee74907239. The commit above is reverted as it did not solve the original issue. gsm_cleanup_mux() tries to free up the virtual ttys by calling gsm_dlci_release() for each available DLCI. There, dlci_put() is called to decrease the reference counter for the DLCI via tty_port_put() which finally calls gsm_dlci_free(). This already clears the pointer which is being checked in gsm_cleanup_mux() before calling gsm_dlci_release(). Therefore, it is not necessary to clear this pointer in gsm_cleanup_mux() as done in the reverted commit. The commit introduces a null pointer dereference: <TASK> ? __die+0x1f/0x70 ? page_fault_oops+0x156/0x420 ? search_exception_tables+0x37/0x50 ? fixup_exception+0x21/0x310 ? exc_page_fault+0x69/0x150 ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 ? tty_port_put+0x19/0xa0 gsmtty_cleanup+0x29/0x80 [n_gsm] release_one_tty+0x37/0xe0 process_one_work+0x1e6/0x3e0 worker_thread+0x4c/0x3d0 ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 kthread+0xe1/0x110 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork+0x2f/0x50 ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1b/0x30 </TASK> The actual issue is that nothing guards dlci_put() from being called multiple times while the tty driver was triggered but did not yet finished calling gsm_dlci_free().

Timeline

1. Mar 2, 2024, 9:59 PM UTCCVE published
2. Mar 7, 2024, 8:09 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

3. May 23, 2026, 3:26 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• Linux Linux

  From 5.10.190 · fixed in 5.10.198; From 5.15.124 · fixed in 5.15.134; From 6.1.43 · fixed in 6.1.56; From 6.4.8 · fixed in 6.5

• Linux Linux

  6.5

References 5