Linux Kernel up to 6.12.1 pci_slot_release use after free

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.6$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.1. It has been rated as problematic. Impacted is the function pci_slot_release. The manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2024-53194. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.1. This issue affects the function pci_slot_release. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

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

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2024-53194 since 11/19/2024. The exploitation is known to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 12/15/2025).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 216224 (Oracle Linux 7 / 8 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2025-20100)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.19.325, 5.4.287, 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 6.1.120, 6.6.64, 6.11.11 or 6.12.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 50473dd3b2a08601a078f852ea05572de9b1f86c/d0ddd2c92b75a19a37c887154223372b600fed37/da6e6ff1f6c57f16e07af955e0e997fc90dd1e75/41bbb1eb996be1435815aa1fbcc9ffc45b84cc12/20502f0b3f3acd6bee300257556c27a867f80c8b/e5d5c04aac71bf1476dc44b56f2206a4c2facca8/c8266ab8e7ccd1d1f5a9c8b29eb2020175048134/69d2ceac11acf8579d58d55c9c5b65fb658f916e/c7acef99642b763ba585f4a43af999fcdbcc3dc4 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 databases at Tenable (216224) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2024-3762). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

  • Debian Linux
  • Amazon Linux 2
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
  • Ubuntu Linux
  • SUSE Linux
  • Oracle Linux
  • RESF Rocky Linux
  • Dell NetWorker
  • Dell Avamar
  • Red Hat OpenShift
  • IBM QRadar SIEM
  • Dell PowerProtect Data Domain
  • Open Source Linux Kernel
  • IBM DataPower Gateway
  • Dell Secure Connect Gateway

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.6

VulDB Base Score: 4.8
VulDB Temp Score: 4.6
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Use after free
CWE: CWE-416 / CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Partially

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Nessus ID: 216224
Nessus Name: Oracle Linux 7 / 8 : Unbreakable Enterprise kernel (ELSA-2025-20100)

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔍

Upgrade: Kernel 4.19.325/5.4.287/5.10.231/5.15.174/6.1.120/6.6.64/6.11.11/6.12.2
Patch: 50473dd3b2a08601a078f852ea05572de9b1f86c/d0ddd2c92b75a19a37c887154223372b600fed37/da6e6ff1f6c57f16e07af955e0e997fc90dd1e75/41bbb1eb996be1435815aa1fbcc9ffc45b84cc12/20502f0b3f3acd6bee300257556c27a867f80c8b/e5d5c04aac71bf1476dc44b56f2206a4c2facca8/c8266ab8e7ccd1d1f5a9c8b29eb2020175048134/69d2ceac11acf8579d58d55c9c5b65fb658f916e/c7acef99642b763ba585f4a43af999fcdbcc3dc4

Timelineinfo

11/19/2024 🔍
12/27/2024 +38 days 🔍
12/27/2024 +0 days 🔍
12/15/2025 +353 days 🔍

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2024-53194 (🔍)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2024-53194
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-289415
CERT Bund: WID-SEC-2024-3762 - Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen ermöglichen Denial of Service

Entryinfo

Created: 12/27/2024 15:08
Updated: 12/15/2025 01:53
Changes: 12/27/2024 15:08 (57), 02/13/2025 13:36 (2), 03/24/2025 19:11 (1), 07/23/2025 16:57 (7), 10/13/2025 23:34 (1), 12/15/2025 01:53 (1)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

◂ PreviousOverviewNext ▸

Are you interested in using VulDB?

Download the whitepaper to learn more about our service!