CVE-2021-46933 usb: gadget: f_fs: Clear ffs_eventfd in ffs_data_clear.
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel USB gadget function allows local attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially escalate privileges via refcount underflow.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2021-46933?
CVE-2021-46933 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Feb 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
usb: gadget: f_fs: Clear ffs_eventfd in ffs_data_clear.
ffs_data_clear is indirectly called from both ffs_fs_kill_sb and ffs_ep0_release, so it ends up being called twice when userland closes ep0 and then unmounts f_fs. If userland provided an eventfd along with function's USB descriptors, it ends up calling eventfd_ctx_put as many times, causing a refcount underflow. NULL-ify ffs_eventfd to prevent these extraneous eventfd_ctx_put calls.
Also, set epfiles to NULL right after de-allocating it, for readability.
For completeness, ffs_data_clear actually ends up being called thrice, the last call being before the whole ffs structure gets freed, so when this specific sequence happens there is a second underflow happening (but not being reported):
/sys/kernel/debug/tracing# modprobe usb_f_fs /sys/kernel/debug/tracing# echo ffs_data_clear > set_ftrace_filter /sys/kernel/debug/tracing# echo function > current_tracer /sys/kernel/debug/tracing# echo 1 > tracing_on (setup gadget, run and kill function userland process, teardown gadget) /sys/kernel/debug/tracing# echo 0 > tracing_on /sys/kernel/debug/tracing# cat trace smartcard-openp-436 [000] ..... 1946.208786: ffs_data_clear <-ffs_data_closed smartcard-openp-431 [000] ..... 1946.279147: ffs_data_clear <-ffs_data_closed smartcard-openp-431 [000] .n... 1946.905512: ffs_data_clear <-ffs_data_put
Warning output corresponding to above trace: [ 1946.284139] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 431 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0x110/0x15c [ 1946.293094] refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. [ 1946.298164] Modules linked in: usb_f_ncm(E) u_ether(E) usb_f_fs(E) hci_uart(E) btqca(E) btrtl(E) btbcm(E) btintel(E) bluetooth(E) nls_ascii(E) nls_cp437(E) vfat(E) fat(E) bcm2835_v4l2(CE) bcm2835_mmal_vchiq(CE) videobuf2_vmalloc(E) videobuf2_memops(E) sha512_generic(E) videobuf2_v4l2(E) sha512_arm(E) videobuf2_common(E) videodev(E) cpufreq_dt(E) snd_bcm2835(CE) brcmfmac(E) mc(E) vc4(E) ctr(E) brcmutil(E) snd_soc_core(E) snd_pcm_dmaengine(E) drbg(E) snd_pcm(E) snd_timer(E) snd(E) soundcore(E) drm_kms_helper(E) cec(E) ansi_cprng(E) rc_core(E) syscopyarea(E) raspberrypi_cpufreq(E) sysfillrect(E) sysimgblt(E) cfg80211(E) max17040_battery(OE) raspberrypi_hwmon(E) fb_sys_fops(E) regmap_i2c(E) ecdh_generic(E) rfkill(E) ecc(E) bcm2835_rng(E) rng_core(E) vchiq(CE) leds_gpio(E) libcomposite(E) fuse(E) configfs(E) ip_tables(E) x_tables(E) autofs4(E) ext4(E) crc16(E) mbcache(E) jbd2(E) crc32c_generic(E) sdhci_iproc(E) sdhci_pltfm(E) sdhci(E) [ 1946.399633] CPU: 0 PID: 431 Comm: smartcard-openp Tainted: G C OE 5.15.0-1-rpi #1 Debian 5.15.3-1 [ 1946.417950] Hardware name: BCM2835 [ 1946.425442] Backtrace: [ 1946.432048] [<c08d60a0>] (dump_backtrace) from [<c08d62ec>] (show_stack+0x20/0x24) [ 1946.448226] r7:00000009 r6:0000001c r5:c04a948c r4:c0a64e2c [ 1946.458412] [<c08d62cc>] (show_stack) from [<c08d9ae0>] (dump_stack+0x28/0x30) [ 1946.470380] [<c08d9ab8>] (dump_stack) from [<c0123500>] (__warn+0xe8/0x154) [ 1946.482067] r5:c04a948c r4:c0a71dc8 [ 1946.490184] [<c0123418>] (__warn) from [<c08d6948>] (warn_slowpath_fmt+0xa0/0xe4) [ 1946.506758] r7:00000009 r6:0000001c r5:c0a71dc8 r4:c0a71e04 [ 1946.517070] [<c08d68ac>] (warn_slowpath_fmt) from [<c04a948c>] (refcount_warn_saturate+0x110/0x15c) [ 1946.535309] r8:c0100224 r7:c0dfcb84 r6:ffffffff r5:c3b84c00 r4:c24a17c0 [ 1946.546708] [<c04a937c>] (refcount_warn_saturate) from [<c0380134>] (eventfd_ctx_put+0x48/0x74) [ 1946.564476] [<c03800ec>] (eventfd_ctx_put) from [<bf5464e8>] (ffs_data_clear+0xd0/0x118 [usb_f_fs]) [ 1946.582664] r5:c3b84c00 r4:c2695b00 [ 1946.590668] [<bf546418>] (ffs_data_clear [usb_f_fs]) from [<bf547cc0>] (ffs_data_closed+0x9c/0x150 [usb_f_fs]) [ 1946.609608] r5:bf54d014 r4:c2695b00 [ 1946.617522] [<bf547c24>] (ffs_data_closed [usb_f_fs]) from [<bf547da0>] (ffs_fs_kill_sb+0x2c/0x30 [usb_f_fs]) [ 1946.636217] r7:c0dfcb ---truncated---
Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-46933?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2021-46933?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2021-46933 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-46933 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2021-46933, GHSA-w6v7-mjp2-pwcf, UBUNTU-CVE-2021-46933.