# CVE-2020-10690: Use after free in kernel

> A use-after-free race condition in the Linux kernel PTP driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash or potentially execute code.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 8 May 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-10690, GHSA-hgvv-3627-37xx, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-10690

## What is CVE-2020-10690?

CVE-2020-10690 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 8 May 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

There is a use-after-free in kernel versions before 5.5 due to a race condition between the release of ptp_clock and cdev while resource deallocation. When a (high privileged) process allocates a ptp device file (like /dev/ptpX) and voluntarily goes to sleep. During this time if the underlying device is removed, it can cause an exploitable condition as the process wakes up to terminate and clean all attached files. The system crashes due to the cdev structure being invalid (as already freed) which is pointed to by the inode.

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10690?

It affects 22 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel, Netapp Active Iq Unified Manager, Netapp Element Software, Netapp H300e Firmware, Netapp H300s Firmware, Netapp H410c Firmware, Netapp H410s Firmware, Netapp H500e Firmware, Netapp H500s Firmware, Netapp H610c Firmware, Netapp H610s Firmware, Netapp H615c Firmware, Netapp H700e Firmware, Netapp H700s Firmware, Netapp Hci Compute Node, Netapp Hci Management Node, Netapp Solidfire, Netapp Steelstore Cloud Integrated Storage and 2 more.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-10690?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-10690 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10690 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-10690 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-10690 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 8 May 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10690 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10690/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10690/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-10690
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-10690
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-10690

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10690/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.