In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
proc: fix UAF in proc_get_inode()
Fix race between rmmod and /proc/XXX's inode instantiation.
The bug is that pde->proc_ops don't belong to /proc, it belongs to a
module, therefore dereferencing it after /proc entry has been registered
is a bug unless use_pde/unuse_pde() pair has been used.
use_pde/unuse_pde can be avoided (2 atomic ops!) because pde->proc_ops
never changes so information necessary for inode instantiation can be
saved _before_ proc_register() in PDE itself and used later, avoiding
pde->proc_ops->... dereference.
rmmod lookup
sys_delete_module
proc_lookup_de
pde_get(de);
proc_get_inode(dir->i_sb, de);
mod->exit()
proc_remove
remove_proc_subtree
proc_entry_rundown(de);
free_module(mod);
if (S_ISREG(inode->i_mode))
if (de->proc_ops->proc_read_iter)
--> As module is already freed, will trigger UAF
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffffbfff80a702b
PGD 817fc4067 P4D 817fc4067 PUD 817fc0067 PMD 102ef4067 PTE 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN PTI
CPU: 26 UID: 0 PID: 2667 Comm: ls Tainted: G
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996)
RIP: 0010:proc_get_inode+0x302/0x6e0
RSP: 0018:ffff88811c837998 EFLAGS: 00010a06
RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: ffffffffc0538140 RCX: 0000000000000007
RDX: 1ffffffff80a702b RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: ffffffffc0538158
RBP: ffff8881299a6000 R08: 0000000067bbe1e5 R09: 1ffff11023906f20
R10: ffffffffb560ca07 R11: ffffffffb2b43a58 R12: ffff888105bb78f0
R13: ffff888100518048 R14: ffff8881299a6004 R15: 0000000000000001
FS: 00007f95b9686840(0000) GS:ffff8883af100000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: fffffbfff80a702b CR3: 0000000117dd2000 CR4: 00000000000006f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
<TASK>
proc_lookup_de+0x11f/0x2e0
__lookup_slow+0x188/0x350
walk_component+0x2ab/0x4f0
path_lookupat+0x120/0x660
filename_lookup+0x1ce/0x560
vfs_statx+0xac/0x150
__do_sys_newstat+0x96/0x110
do_syscall_64+0x5f/0x170
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
[adobriyan@gmail.com: don't do 2 atomic ops on the common path]
Publication date: Thu, 03 Apr 2025 07:19:00 +0000