Vulnerabilities > CVE-2025-21943 - Race Condition vulnerability in Linux Kernel
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gpio: aggregator: protect driver attr handlers against module unload Both new_device_store and delete_device_store touch module global resources (e.g. gpio_aggregator_lock). To prevent race conditions with module unload, a reference needs to be held. Add try_module_get() in these handlers. For new_device_store, this eliminates what appears to be the most dangerous scenario: if an id is allocated from gpio_aggregator_idr but platform_device_register has not yet been called or completed, a concurrent module unload could fail to unregister/delete the device, leaving behind a dangling platform device/GPIO forwarder. This can result in various issues. The following simple reproducer demonstrates these problems: #!/bin/bash while :; do # note: whether 'gpiochip0 0' exists or not does not matter. echo 'gpiochip0 0' > /sys/bus/platform/drivers/gpio-aggregator/new_device done & while :; do modprobe gpio-aggregator modprobe -r gpio-aggregator done & wait Starting with the following warning, several kinds of warnings will appear and the system may become unstable: ------------[ cut here ]------------ list_del corruption, ffff888103e2e980->next is LIST_POISON1 (dead000000000100) WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 1327 at lib/list_debug.c:56 __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xa3/0x120 [...] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xa3/0x120 [...] Call Trace: <TASK> ? __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xa3/0x120 ? __warn.cold+0x93/0xf2 ? __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xa3/0x120 ? report_bug+0xe6/0x170 ? __irq_work_queue_local+0x39/0xe0 ? handle_bug+0x58/0x90 ? exc_invalid_op+0x13/0x60 ? asm_exc_invalid_op+0x16/0x20 ? __list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xa3/0x120 gpiod_remove_lookup_table+0x22/0x60 new_device_store+0x315/0x350 [gpio_aggregator] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x137/0x1f0 vfs_write+0x262/0x430 ksys_write+0x60/0xd0 do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x180 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [...] </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
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 Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions This attack targets a race condition occurring between the time of check (state) for a resource and the time of use of a resource. The typical example is the file access. The attacker can leverage a file access race condition by "running the race", meaning that he would modify the resource between the first time the target program accesses the file and the time the target program uses the file. During that period of time, the attacker could do something such as replace the file and cause an escalation of privilege.
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/12f65d1203507f7db3ba59930fe29a3b8eee9945
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56281a76b805b5ac61feb5d580139695a22f87f0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/807789018186cf508ceb3a1f8f02935cd195717b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8fb07fb1bba91d45846ed8605c3097fe67a7d54c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9334c88fc2fbc6836b307d269fcc1744c69701c0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d99dc8f7ea01ee1b21306e0eda8eb18a4af80db6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd6aa1f8cbe0979eb66ac32ebc231bf0b10a2117