Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2022-48759

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.14.265 / 4.19.228 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rpmsg: char: Fix race between the release of rpmsg_ctrldev and cdev struct rpmsg_ctrldev contains a struct cdev. The current code frees the rpmsg_ctrldev struct in rpmsg_ctrldev_release_device(), but the cdev is a managed object, therefore its release is not predictable and the rpmsg_ctrldev could be freed before the cdev is entirely released, as in the backtrace below. [ 93.625603] ODEBUG: free active (active state 0) object type: timer_list hint: delayed_work_timer_fn+0x0/0x7c [ 93.636115] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 12 at lib/debugobjects.c:488 debug_print_object+0x13c/0x1b0 [ 93.644799] Modules linked in: veth xt_cgroup xt_MASQUERADE rfcomm algif_hash algif_skcipher af_alg uinput ip6table_nat fuse uvcvideo videobuf2_vmalloc venus_enc venus_dec videobuf2_dma_contig hci_uart btandroid btqca snd_soc_rt5682_i2c bluetooth qcom_spmi_temp_alarm snd_soc_rt5682v [ 93.715175] CPU: 0 PID: 12 Comm: kworker/0:1 Tainted: G B 5.4.163-lockdep #26 [ 93.723855] Hardware name: Google Lazor (rev3 - 8) with LTE (DT) [ 93.730055] Workqueue: events kobject_delayed_cleanup [ 93.735271] pstate: 60c00009 (nZCv daif +PAN +UAO) [ 93.740216] pc : debug_print_object+0x13c/0x1b0 [ 93.744890] lr : debug_print_object+0x13c/0x1b0 [ 93.749555] sp : ffffffacf5bc7940 [ 93.752978] x29: ffffffacf5bc7940 x28: dfffffd000000000 [ 93.758448] x27: ffffffacdb11a800 x26: dfffffd000000000 [ 93.763916] x25: ffffffd0734f856c x24: dfffffd000000000 [ 93.769389] x23: 0000000000000000 x22: ffffffd0733c35b0 [ 93.774860] x21: ffffffd0751994a0 x20: ffffffd075ec27c0 [ 93.780338] x19: ffffffd075199100 x18: 00000000000276e0 [ 93.785814] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: dfffffd000000000 [ 93.791291] x15: ffffffffffffffff x14: 6e6968207473696c [ 93.796768] x13: 0000000000000000 x12: ffffffd075e2b000 [ 93.802244] x11: 0000000000000001 x10: 0000000000000000 [ 93.807723] x9 : d13400dff1921900 x8 : d13400dff1921900 [ 93.813200] x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 93.818676] x5 : 0000000000000080 x4 : 0000000000000000 [ 93.824152] x3 : ffffffd0732a0fa4 x2 : 0000000000000001 [ 93.829628] x1 : ffffffacf5bc7580 x0 : 0000000000000061 [ 93.835104] Call trace: [ 93.837644] debug_print_object+0x13c/0x1b0 [ 93.841963] __debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x25c/0x3c0 [ 93.846987] debug_check_no_obj_freed+0x18/0x20 [ 93.851669] slab_free_freelist_hook+0xbc/0x1e4 [ 93.856346] kfree+0xfc/0x2f4 [ 93.859416] rpmsg_ctrldev_release_device+0x78/0xb8 [ 93.864445] device_release+0x84/0x168 [ 93.868310] kobject_cleanup+0x12c/0x298 [ 93.872356] kobject_delayed_cleanup+0x10/0x18 [ 93.876948] process_one_work+0x578/0x92c [ 93.881086] worker_thread+0x804/0xcf8 [ 93.884963] kthread+0x2a8/0x314 [ 93.888303] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x18 The cdev_device_add/del() API was created to address this issue (see commit '233ed09d7fda ("chardev: add helper function to register char devs with a struct device")'), use it instead of cdev add/del().

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-362

Two operations that should be atomic can interleave, so an attacker who wins a narrow timing window reaches an inconsistent, exploitable state. These bugs are subtle and easy to miss in review. Fixing them properly means correct locking or atomic operations around the shared resource.

General guidance for the race condition class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 4.11, < 4.14.265>= 4.15, < 4.19.228>= 4.20, < 5.4.176>= 5.5, < 5.10.96>= 5.11, < 5.15.19>= 5.16, < 5.16.5= 5.17

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.14.265 / 4.19.228 / 5.4.176 or later
Fixed in 4.14.2654.19.2285.4.176
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

4.14.265, 4.19.228, 5.4.176, or 5.10.96 (or any later stable release)

  1. Apply vendor patch commit 1dbb206730f3e5ce90014ad569ddf8167ec4124a which modifies the rpmsg char driver to use cdev_device_add()/cdev_device_del() instead of cdev_add()/cdev_del()
  2. The fix ensures that the character device is properly managed and released before the rpmsg_ctrldev struct is freed, eliminating the race condition

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-48759 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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