CVE-2025-21887

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

ovl: fix UAF in ovl_dentry_update_reval by moving dput() in ovl_link_up

The issue was caused by dput(upper) being called before ovl_dentry_update_reval(), while upper->d_flags was still accessed in ovl_dentry_remote().

Move dput(upper) after its last use to prevent use-after-free.

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ovl_dentry_remote fs/overlayfs/util.c:162 [inline] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ovl_dentry_update_reval+0xd2/0xf0 fs/overlayfs/util.c:167

Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:88 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x116/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:114 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:377 [inline] print_report+0xc3/0x620 mm/kasan/report.c:488 kasan_report+0xd9/0x110 mm/kasan/report.c:601 ovl_dentry_remote fs/overlayfs/util.c:162 [inline] ovl_dentry_update_reval+0xd2/0xf0 fs/overlayfs/util.c:167 ovl_link_up fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c:610 [inline] ovl_copy_up_one+0x2105/0x3490 fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c:1170 ovl_copy_up_flags+0x18d/0x200 fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c:1223 ovl_rename+0x39e/0x18c0 fs/overlayfs/dir.c:1136 vfs_rename+0xf84/0x20a0 fs/namei.c:4893 …

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/3594aad97e7be2557ca9fa9c931b206b604028c8
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4b49d939b5a79117f939b77cc67efae2694d9799
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60b4b5c1277fc491da9e1e7abab307bfa39c2db7
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64455c8051c3aedc71abb7ec8d47c80301f99f00
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a7c41830ffcd17b2177a95a9b99b270302090c35
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c84e125fff2615b4d9c259e762596134eddd2f27