CVE-2022-48792

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

scsi: pm8001: Fix use-after-free for aborted SSP/STP sas_task

Currently a use-after-free may occur if a sas_task is aborted by the upper layer before we handle the I/O completion in mpi_ssp_completion() or mpi_sata_completion().

In this case, the following are the two steps in handling those I/O completions:

• Call complete() to inform the upper layer handler of completion of the I/O.

• Release driver resources associated with the sas_task in pm8001_ccb_task_free() call.

When complete() is called, the upper layer may free the sas_task. As such, we should not touch the associated sas_task afterwards, but we do so in the pm8001_ccb_task_free() call.

Fix by swapping the complete() and pm8001_ccb_task_free() calls ordering.

Weakness

Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code.

Affected Software

Extended Description

The use of previously-freed memory can have any number of adverse consequences, ranging from the corruption of valid data to the execution of arbitrary code, depending on the instantiation and timing of the flaw. The simplest way data corruption may occur involves the system’s reuse of the freed memory. Use-after-free errors have two common and sometimes overlapping causes:

In this scenario, the memory in question is allocated to another pointer validly at some point after it has been freed. The original pointer to the freed memory is used again and points to somewhere within the new allocation. As the data is changed, it corrupts the validly used memory; this induces undefined behavior in the process. If the newly allocated data happens to hold a class, in C++ for example, various function pointers may be scattered within the heap data. If one of these function pointers is overwritten with an address to valid shellcode, execution of arbitrary code can be achieved.

Potential Mitigations

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d9d93f32534a0a80a1c26bdb0746d90a7b19c2c2
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df7abcaa1246e2537ab4016077b5443bb3c09378
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f61f9fccb2cb4bb275674a79d638704db6bc2171
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fe9ac3eaa2e387a5742b380b73a5a6bc237bf184