Linux Kernel up to 5.16.4 hwmon clear_caseopen null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 5.16.4. This vulnerability affects the function clear_caseopen of the component hwmon. Such manipulation leads to null pointer dereference. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2022-48750. There is no available exploit. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.16.4. Affected by this issue is the function clear_caseopen of the component hwmon. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (nct6775) Fix crash in clear_caseopen Paweł Marciniak reports the following crash, observed when clearing the chassis intrusion alarm. BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000028 PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI CPU: 3 PID: 4815 Comm: bash Tainted: G S 5.16.2-200.fc35.x86_64 #1 Hardware name: To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M./Z97 Extreme4, BIOS P2.60A 05/03/2018 RIP: 0010:clear_caseopen+0x5a/0x120 [nct6775] Code: 68 70 e8 e9 32 b1 e3 85 c0 0f 85 d2 00 00 00 48 83 7c 24 ... RSP: 0018:ffffabcb02803dd8 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000002 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: ffff8e8808192880 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff8e87c7509a68 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 000000000000000a R10: 000000000000000a R11: f000000000000000 R12: 000000000000001f R13: ffff8e87c7509828 R14: ffff8e87c7509a68 R15: ffff8e88494527a0 FS: 00007f4db9151740(0000) GS:ffff8e8ebfec0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000028 CR3: 0000000166b66001 CR4: 00000000001706e0 Call Trace: kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11c/0x1b0 new_sync_write+0x10b/0x180 vfs_write+0x209/0x2a0 ksys_write+0x4f/0xc0 do_syscall_64+0x3b/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae The problem is that the device passed to clear_caseopen() is the hwmon device, not the platform device, and the platform data is not set in the hwmon device. Store the pointer to sio_data in struct nct6775_data and get if from there if needed.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2022-48750. The exploitation is known to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 250018 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2022-48750), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 5.16.5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch cfb7d12f2e4a/79da533d3cc7 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (250018). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.16.0
• 5.16.1
• 5.16.2
• 5.16.3
• 5.16.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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