Linux Kernel up to 5.17.1 ctrl_cdev_ioctl reference count

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 5.17.1. Affected is the function ctrl_cdev_ioctl. Executing a manipulation can lead to reference count. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2021-47634. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 5.17.1 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function ctrl_cdev_ioctl. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a reference count vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-911. The product uses a reference count to manage a resource, but it does not update or incorrectly updates the reference count. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ubi: Fix race condition between ctrl_cdev_ioctl and ubi_cdev_ioctl Hulk Robot reported a KASAN report about use-after-free: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __list_del_entry_valid+0x13d/0x160 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888035e37d98 by task ubiattach/1385 [...] Call Trace: klist_dec_and_del+0xa7/0x4a0 klist_put+0xc7/0x1a0 device_del+0x4d4/0xed0 cdev_device_del+0x1a/0x80 ubi_attach_mtd_dev+0x2951/0x34b0 [ubi] ctrl_cdev_ioctl+0x286/0x2f0 [ubi] Allocated by task 1414: device_add+0x60a/0x18b0 cdev_device_add+0x103/0x170 ubi_create_volume+0x1118/0x1a10 [ubi] ubi_cdev_ioctl+0xb7f/0x1ba0 [ubi] Freed by task 1385: cdev_device_del+0x1a/0x80 ubi_remove_volume+0x438/0x6c0 [ubi] ubi_cdev_ioctl+0xbf4/0x1ba0 [ubi] [...] ================================================================== The lock held by ctrl_cdev_ioctl is ubi_devices_mutex, but the lock held by ubi_cdev_ioctl is ubi->device_mutex. Therefore, the two locks can be concurrent. ctrl_cdev_ioctl contains two operations: ubi_attach and ubi_detach. ubi_detach is bug-free because it uses reference counting to prevent concurrency. However, uif_init and uif_close in ubi_attach may race with ubi_cdev_ioctl. uif_init will race with ubi_cdev_ioctl as in the following stack. cpu1 cpu2 cpu3 _______________________|________________________|______________________ ctrl_cdev_ioctl ubi_attach_mtd_dev uif_init ubi_cdev_ioctl ubi_create_volume cdev_device_add ubi_add_volume // sysfs exist kill_volumes ubi_cdev_ioctl ubi_remove_volume cdev_device_del // first free ubi_free_volume cdev_del // double free cdev_device_del And uif_close will race with ubi_cdev_ioctl as in the following stack. cpu1 cpu2 cpu3 _______________________|________________________|______________________ ctrl_cdev_ioctl ubi_attach_mtd_dev uif_init ubi_cdev_ioctl ubi_create_volume cdev_device_add ubi_debugfs_init_dev //error goto out_uif; uif_close kill_volumes ubi_cdev_ioctl ubi_remove_volume cdev_device_del // first free ubi_free_volume // double free The cause of this problem is that commit 714fb87e8bc0 make device "available" before it becomes accessible via sysfs. Therefore, we roll back the modification. We will fix the race condition between ubi device creation and udev by removing ubi_get_device in vol_attribute_show and dev_attribute_show.This avoids accessing uninitialized ubi_devices[ubi_num]. ubi_get_device is used to prevent devices from being deleted during sysfs execution. However, now kernfs ensures that devices will not be deleted before all reference counting are released. The key process is shown in the following stack. device_del device_remove_attrs device_remove_groups sysfs_remove_groups sysfs_remove_group remove_files kernfs_remove_by_name kernfs_remove_by_name_ns __kernfs_remove kernfs_drain

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2021-47634 since 02/26/2025. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 232643 (SUSE SLES12 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2025:0834-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 4.14.276, 4.19.238, 5.4.189, 5.10.110, 5.15.33, 5.16.19 or 5.17.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch f149b1bd213820363731aa119e5011ca892a2aac/a8ecee49259f8f78d91ddb329ab2be7e6fd01974/d727fd32cbd1abf3465f607021bc9c746f17b5a8/432b057f8e847ae5a2306515606f8d2defaca178/1a3f1cf87054833242fcd0218de0481cf855f888/c32fe764191b8ae8b128588beb96e3718d9179d8/5f9e9c223e48c264241d2f34d0bfc29e5fcb5c1b/3cbf0e392f173ba0ce425968c8374a6aa3e90f2e 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 (232643). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 4.14.275
• 4.19.237
• 5.4.188
• 5.10.109
• 5.15.0
• 5.15.1
• 5.15.2
• 5.15.3
• 5.15.4
• 5.15.5
• 5.15.6
• 5.15.7
• 5.15.8
• 5.15.9
• 5.15.10
• 5.15.11
• 5.15.12
• 5.15.13
• 5.15.14
• 5.15.15
• 5.15.16
• 5.15.17
• 5.15.18
• 5.15.19
• 5.15.20
• 5.15.21
• 5.15.22
• 5.15.23
• 5.15.24
• 5.15.25
• 5.15.26
• 5.15.27
• 5.15.28
• 5.15.29
• 5.15.30
• 5.15.31
• 5.15.32
• 5.16.0
• 5.16.1
• 5.16.2
• 5.16.3
• 5.16.4
• 5.16.5
• 5.16.6
• 5.16.7
• 5.16.8
• 5.16.9
• 5.16.10
• 5.16.11
• 5.16.12
• 5.16.13
• 5.16.14
• 5.16.15
• 5.16.16
• 5.16.17
• 5.16.18
• 5.17.0
• 5.17.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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