CVE-2023-53310

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

power: supply: axp288_fuel_gauge: Fix external_power_changed race

fuel_gauge_external_power_changed() dereferences info->bat, which gets sets in axp288_fuel_gauge_probe() like this:

info->bat = devm_power_supply_register(dev, &fuel_gauge_desc, &psy_cfg);

As soon as devm_power_supply_register() has called device_add() the external_power_changed callback can get called. So there is a window where fuel_gauge_external_power_changed() may get called while info->bat has not been set yet leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

Fixing this is easy. The external_power_changed callback gets passed the power_supply which will eventually get stored in info->bat, so fuel_gauge_external_power_changed() can simply directly use the passed in psy argument which is always valid.

Weakness

The product contains a concurrent code sequence that requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence operating concurrently.

Affected Software

Extended Description

A race condition occurs within concurrent environments, and it is effectively a property of a code sequence. Depending on the context, a code sequence may be in the form of a function call, a small number of instructions, a series of program invocations, etc. A race condition violates these properties, which are closely related:

A race condition exists when an “interfering code sequence” can still access the shared resource, violating exclusivity. The interfering code sequence could be “trusted” or “untrusted.” A trusted interfering code sequence occurs within the product; it cannot be modified by the attacker, and it can only be invoked indirectly. An untrusted interfering code sequence can be authored directly by the attacker, and typically it is external to the vulnerable product.

Potential Mitigations

• Minimize the usage of shared resources in order to remove as much complexity as possible from the control flow and to reduce the likelihood of unexpected conditions occurring.
• Additionally, this will minimize the amount of synchronization necessary and may even help to reduce the likelihood of a denial of service where an attacker may be able to repeatedly trigger a critical section (CWE-400).

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/26.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/29.html

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0456b912121e45b3ef54abe3135e5dcb541f956c
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a636c6ba9ce898207f283271cb28511206ab739b
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f8319774d6f1567d6e7d03653174ab0c82c5c66d