Vulnerabilities > CVE-2021-47469 - Improper Locking vulnerability in Linux Kernel
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: Fix deadlock when adding SPI controllers on SPI buses Currently we have a global spi_add_lock which we take when adding new devices so that we can check that we're not trying to reuse a chip select that's already controlled. This means that if the SPI device is itself a SPI controller and triggers the instantiation of further SPI devices we trigger a deadlock as we try to register and instantiate those devices while in the process of doing so for the parent controller and hence already holding the global spi_add_lock. Since we only care about concurrency within a single SPI bus move the lock to be per controller, avoiding the deadlock. This can be easily triggered in the case of spi-mux.
Vulnerable Configurations
Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
- Leveraging Race Conditions This attack targets a race condition occurring when multiple processes access and manipulate the same resource concurrently and the outcome of the execution depends on the particular order in which the access takes place. The attacker can leverage a race condition by "running the race", modifying the resource and modifying the normal execution flow. For instance a race condition can occur while accessing a file, the attacker can trick the system by replacing the original file with his version and cause the system to read the malicious file.
- Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links This attack leverages the use of symbolic links (Symlinks) in order to write to sensitive files. An attacker can create a Symlink link to a target file not otherwise accessible to her. When the privileged program tries to create a temporary file with the same name as the Symlink link, it will actually write to the target file pointed to by the attackers' Symlink link. If the attacker can insert malicious content in the temporary file she will be writing to the sensitive file by using the Symlink. The race occurs because the system checks if the temporary file exists, then creates the file. The attacker would typically create the Symlink during the interval between the check and the creation of the temporary file.
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6098475d4cb48d821bdf453c61118c56e26294f0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6098475d4cb48d821bdf453c61118c56e26294f0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/722ef19a161ce3fffb3d1b01ce2301c306639bdd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/722ef19a161ce3fffb3d1b01ce2301c306639bdd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa3f3d7bef59583f2d3234173105a27ff61ef8fe
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c8dce228db6f81dbc897a018dfc5c418e917cf64