CyberRota Analysis
AI-GeneratedThe vulnerability in the Linux kernel affects the ring buffer management, where the cleanup process fails to properly handle error pointers (ERR_PTR) stored in the `rb_threads[]` array. This oversight can lead to a kernel crash due to a NULL pointer dereference when `kthread_stop()` is called on an invalid pointer, potentially resulting in system instability. Organizations using affected Linux kernel versions should prioritize patching this issue to prevent unexpected kernel panics during system operation.
Original NVD Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ring-buffer: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop() In test_ringbuffer()'s out_free cleanup loop, the check `!rb_threads[cpu]` only catches NULL entries and misses entries that hold an ERR_PTR. rb_threads[] is static, so unassigned slots are NULL. But when kthread_run_on_cpu() fails for a cpu, it stores ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) (or -EINTR) in rb_threads[cpu] before the creation loop jumps to out_free. That entry is non-NULL, so the old `!ptr` check does not break, and the cleanup proceeds to call kthread_stop() on the ERR_PTR. kthread_stop() then dereferences the bogus pointer, crashing the kernel during the late_initcall self-test. crash logs: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000001c Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 7.2.0-rc6-dirty #7 PREEMPT(lazy) RIP: 0010:kthread_stop+0x2e/0x220 RBX: fffffffffffffff4 CR2: 000000000000001c Call Trace: <TASK> test_ringbuffer+0x1ec/0x650 do_one_initcall+0x6c/0x2c0 kernel_init_freeable+0x21d/0x420 kernel_init+0x15/0x1c0 ret_from_fork+0x21b/0x320 </TASK> Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception