linux-kernel - [PATCH 1/2] arm64: efi: Fix NULL pointer dereference by initializing user

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Message-Id: <20251223-efi_fix_619-v1-1-e0146b8b9d73@debian.org>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 02:55:43 -0800
From: Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>
To: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>, 
 Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@....com>, Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>
Cc: linux-efi@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, 
 linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org, riel@...riel.com, puranjay@...nel.org, 
 usamaarif642@...il.com, Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>, 
 kernel-team@...a.com
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] arm64: efi: Fix NULL pointer dereference by
 initializing user_ns

Linux 6.19-rc2 (9448598b22c5 ("Linux 6.19-rc2")) is crashing with a NULL
pointer dereference on arm64 hosts:

  Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000000000c8
   pc : cap_capable (security/commoncap.c:82 security/commoncap.c:128)
   Call trace:
    cap_capable (security/commoncap.c:82 security/commoncap.c:128) (P)
    security_capable (security/security.c:?)
    ns_capable_noaudit (kernel/capability.c:342 kernel/capability.c:381)
    __ptrace_may_access (./include/linux/rcupdate.h:895 kernel/ptrace.c:326)
    ptrace_may_access (kernel/ptrace.c:353)
    do_task_stat (fs/proc/array.c:467)
    proc_tgid_stat (fs/proc/array.c:673)
    proc_single_show (fs/proc/base.c:803)

I've bissected the problem to commit a5baf582f4c0 ("arm64/efi: Call EFI
runtime services without disabling preemption").

>From my analyzes, the crash occurs because efi_mm lacks a user_ns field
initialization. This was previously harmless, but commit a5baf582f4c0
("arm64/efi: Call EFI runtime services without disabling preemption")
changed the EFI runtime call path to use kthread_use_mm(&efi_mm), which
temporarily adopts efi_mm as the current mm for the calling kthread.

When a thread has an active mm, LSM hooks like cap_capable() expect
mm->user_ns to be valid for credential checks. With efi_mm.user_ns being
NULL, capability checks during possible /proc access dereference the
NULL pointer and crash.

Fix by initializing efi_mm.user_ns to &init_user_ns.

Fixes: a5baf582f4c0 ("arm64/efi: Call EFI runtime services without disabling preemption")
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>
---
 drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c b/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c
index a9070d00b833..55452e61af31 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c
+++ b/drivers/firmware/efi/efi.c
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ struct mm_struct efi_mm = {
 	MMAP_LOCK_INITIALIZER(efi_mm)
 	.page_table_lock	= __SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED(efi_mm.page_table_lock),
 	.mmlist			= LIST_HEAD_INIT(efi_mm.mmlist),
+	.user_ns		= &init_user_ns,
 	.cpu_bitmap		= { [BITS_TO_LONGS(NR_CPUS)] = 0},
 #ifdef CONFIG_SCHED_MM_CID
 	.mm_cid.lock		= __RAW_SPIN_LOCK_UNLOCKED(efi_mm.mm_cid.lock),

-- 
2.47.3