CVE-2024-26893 firmware: arm_scmi: Fix double free in SMC transport cleanup path
A double free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's SCMI SMC transport cleanup path can cause a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.
- 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-2024-26893?
CVE-2024-26893 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 17 Apr 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:
firmware: arm_scmi: Fix double free in SMC transport cleanup path
When the generic SCMI code tears down a channel, it calls the chan_free callback function, defined by each transport. Since multiple protocols might share the same transport_info member, chan_free() might want to clean up the same member multiple times within the given SCMI transport implementation. In this case, it is SMC transport. This will lead to a NULL pointer dereference at the second time:
| scmi_protocol scmi_dev.1: Enabled polling mode TX channel - prot_id:16 | arm-scmi firmware:scmi: SCMI Notifications - Core Enabled. | arm-scmi firmware:scmi: unable to communicate with SCMI | Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 | Mem abort info: | ESR = 0x0000000096000004 | EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits | SET = 0, FnV = 0 | EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 | FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault | Data abort info: | ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000 | CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 | GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 | user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000881ef8000 | [0000000000000000] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000 | Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1] PREEMPT SMP | Modules linked in: | CPU: 4 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.7.0-rc2-00124-g455ef3d016c9-dirty #793 | Hardware name: FVP Base RevC (DT) | pstate: 61400009 (nZCv daif +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) | pc : smc_chan_free+0x3c/0x6c | lr : smc_chan_free+0x3c/0x6c | Call trace: | smc_chan_free+0x3c/0x6c | idr_for_each+0x68/0xf8 | scmi_cleanup_channels.isra.0+0x2c/0x58 | scmi_probe+0x434/0x734 | platform_probe+0x68/0xd8 | really_probe+0x110/0x27c | __driver_probe_device+0x78/0x12c | driver_probe_device+0x3c/0x118 | __driver_attach+0x74/0x128 | bus_for_each_dev+0x78/0xe0 | driver_attach+0x24/0x30 | bus_add_driver+0xe4/0x1e8 | driver_register+0x60/0x128 | __platform_driver_register+0x28/0x34 | scmi_driver_init+0x84/0xc0 | do_one_initcall+0x78/0x33c | kernel_init_freeable+0x2b8/0x51c | kernel_init+0x24/0x130 | ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 | Code: f0004701 910a0021 aa1403e5 97b91c70 (b9400280) | ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Simply check for the struct pointer being NULL before trying to access its members, to avoid this situation.
This was found when a transport doesn't really work (for instance no SMC service), the probe routines then tries to clean up, and triggers a crash.
Weakness: CWE-415
Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-26893?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2024-26893?
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-2024-26893 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-26893 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-55971, BELL-CVE-2024-26893, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-26893, GHSA-g64m-m7r3-j854, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2024-26893, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-26893.