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In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been...

High severity Unreviewed Published Dec 27, 2024 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Feb 11, 2025

Package

No package listedSuggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

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

PCI: Fix use-after-free of slot->bus on hot remove

Dennis reports a boot crash on recent Lenovo laptops with a USB4 dock.

Since commit 0fc70886569c ("thunderbolt: Reset USB4 v2 host router") and
commit 59a54c5f3dbd ("thunderbolt: Reset topology created by the boot
firmware"), USB4 v2 and v1 Host Routers are reset on probe of the
thunderbolt driver.

The reset clears the Presence Detect State and Data Link Layer Link Active
bits at the USB4 Host Router's Root Port and thus causes hot removal of the
dock.

The crash occurs when pciehp is unbound from one of the dock's Downstream
Ports: pciehp creates a pci_slot on bind and destroys it on unbind. The
pci_slot contains a pointer to the pci_bus below the Downstream Port, but
a reference on that pci_bus is never acquired. The pci_bus is destroyed
before the pci_slot, so a use-after-free ensues when pci_slot_release()
accesses slot->bus.

In principle this should not happen because pci_stop_bus_device() unbinds
pciehp (and therefore destroys the pci_slot) before the pci_bus is
destroyed by pci_remove_bus_device().

However the stacktrace provided by Dennis shows that pciehp is unbound from
pci_remove_bus_device() instead of pci_stop_bus_device(). To understand
the significance of this, one needs to know that the PCI core uses a two
step process to remove a portion of the hierarchy: It first unbinds all
drivers in the sub-hierarchy in pci_stop_bus_device() and then actually
removes the devices in pci_remove_bus_device(). There is no precaution to
prevent driver binding in-between pci_stop_bus_device() and
pci_remove_bus_device().

In Dennis' case, it seems removal of the hierarchy by pciehp races with
driver binding by pci_bus_add_devices(). pciehp is bound to the
Downstream Port after pci_stop_bus_device() has run, so it is unbound by
pci_remove_bus_device() instead of pci_stop_bus_device(). Because the
pci_bus has already been destroyed at that point, accesses to it result in
a use-after-free.

One might conclude that driver binding needs to be prevented after
pci_stop_bus_device() has run. However it seems risky that pci_slot points
to pci_bus without holding a reference. Solely relying on correct ordering
of driver unbind versus pci_bus destruction is certainly not defensive
programming.

If pci_slot has a need to access data in pci_bus, it ought to acquire a
reference. Amend pci_create_slot() accordingly. Dennis reports that the
crash is not reproducible with this change.

Abridged stacktrace:

pcieport 0000:00:07.0: PME: Signaling with IRQ 156
pcieport 0000:00:07.0: pciehp: Slot #12 AttnBtn- PwrCtrl- MRL- AttnInd- PwrInd- HotPlug+ Surprise+ Interlock- NoCompl+ IbPresDis- LLActRep+
pci_bus 0000:20: dev 00, created physical slot 12
pcieport 0000:00:07.0: pciehp: Slot(12): Card not present
...
pcieport 0000:21:02.0: pciehp: pcie_disable_notification: SLOTCTRL d8 write cmd 0
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0x6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI
CPU: 13 UID: 0 PID: 134 Comm: irq/156-pciehp Not tainted 6.11.0-devel+ #1
RIP: 0010:dev_driver_string+0x12/0x40
pci_destroy_slot
pciehp_remove
pcie_port_remove_service
device_release_driver_internal
bus_remove_device
device_del
device_unregister
remove_iter
device_for_each_child
pcie_portdrv_remove
pci_device_remove
device_release_driver_internal
bus_remove_device
device_del
pci_remove_bus_device (recursive invocation)
pci_remove_bus_device
pciehp_unconfigure_device
pciehp_disable_slot
pciehp_handle_presence_or_link_change
pciehp_ist

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Dec 27, 2024
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Dec 27, 2024
Last updated Feb 11, 2025

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(15th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2024-53194

GHSA ID

GHSA-g8xw-8x23-c5c8

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

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