linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] char: xillybus: Prevent use-after-free due to race condition

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Date:   Wed, 26 Oct 2022 11:02:17 -0400
From:   Alan Stern <stern@...land.harvard.edu>
To:     Eli Billauer <eli.billauer@...il.com>
Cc:     gregkh@...uxfoundation.org, arnd@...db.de,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-usb@...r.kernel.org,
        imv4bel@...il.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH] char: xillybus: Prevent use-after-free due to race
 condition

On Wed, Oct 26, 2022 at 11:52:40AM +0300, Eli Billauer wrote:
> xillybus_find_inode() is called by xillybus_open() and xillyusb_open()
> to translate the inode's major and minor into a pointer to a relevant
> data structure and an index.
> 
> But with xillyusb_open(), the data structure can be freed by
> xillyusb_disconnect() during an unintentional time gap between the
> release of the mutex that is taken by xillybus_find_inode() and the
> mutex that is subsequently taken by xillyusb_open().
> 
> To fix this, xillybus_find_inode() supplies the pointer to the mutex that
> it has locked (when returning success), so xillyusb_open() releases this
> mutex only after obtaining the mutex that is specific to a device file.
> This ensures that xillyusb_disconnect() won't release anything that is in
> use.

The standard way of handling this problem is different from this.  The 
driver defines a private mutex, and it ensures that any routine calling 
*_find_inode() holds the mutex.  It also ensures that the mutex is held 
while a new device is being registered and while a device is being 
removed.

Even that won't fix all the synchronization problems.  A process can 
open a device, and then after the device has been removed the process 
can still try to access the device.  The driver needs to ensure that 
such accesses are not allowed.

Alan Stern