CVE-2024-40911 - NULL Pointer Dereference

Severity

55%

Complexity

18%

Confidentiality

60%

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: cfg80211: Lock wiphy in cfg80211_get_station Wiphy should be locked before calling rdev_get_station() (see lockdep assert in ieee80211_get_station()). This fixes the following kernel NULL dereference: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000050 Mem abort info: ESR = 0x0000000096000006 EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits SET = 0, FnV = 0 EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault Data abort info: ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000006 CM = 0, WnR = 0 user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000003001000 [0000000000000050] pgd=0800000002dca003, p4d=0800000002dca003, pud=08000000028e9003, pmd=0000000000000000 Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000006 [#1] SMP Modules linked in: netconsole dwc3_meson_g12a dwc3_of_simple dwc3 ip_gre gre ath10k_pci ath10k_core ath9k ath9k_common ath9k_hw ath CPU: 0 PID: 1091 Comm: kworker/u8:0 Not tainted 6.4.0-02144-g565f9a3a7911-dirty #705 Hardware name: RPT (r1) (DT) Workqueue: bat_events batadv_v_elp_throughput_metric_update pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) pc : ath10k_sta_statistics+0x10/0x2dc [ath10k_core] lr : sta_set_sinfo+0xcc/0xbd4 sp : ffff000007b43ad0 x29: ffff000007b43ad0 x28: ffff0000071fa900 x27: ffff00000294ca98 x26: ffff000006830880 x25: ffff000006830880 x24: ffff00000294c000 x23: 0000000000000001 x22: ffff000007b43c90 x21: ffff800008898acc x20: ffff00000294c6e8 x19: ffff000007b43c90 x18: 0000000000000000 x17: 445946354d552d78 x16: 62661f7200000000 x15: 57464f445946354d x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 00000000000000e3 x12: d5f0acbcebea978e x11: 00000000000000e3 x10: 000000010048fe41 x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : ffff000007b43d90 x7 : 000000007a1e2125 x6 : 0000000000000000 x5 : ffff0000024e0900 x4 : ffff800000a0250c x3 : ffff000007b43c90 x2 : ffff00000294ca98 x1 : ffff000006831920 x0 : 0000000000000000 Call trace: ath10k_sta_statistics+0x10/0x2dc [ath10k_core] sta_set_sinfo+0xcc/0xbd4 ieee80211_get_station+0x2c/0x44 cfg80211_get_station+0x80/0x154 batadv_v_elp_get_throughput+0x138/0x1fc batadv_v_elp_throughput_metric_update+0x1c/0xa4 process_one_work+0x1ec/0x414 worker_thread+0x70/0x46c kthread+0xdc/0xe0 ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 Code: a9bb7bfd 910003fd a90153f3 f9411c40 (f9402814) This happens because STA has time to disconnect and reconnect before batadv_v_elp_throughput_metric_update() delayed work gets scheduled. In this situation, ath10k_sta_state() can be in the middle of resetting arsta data when the work queue get chance to be scheduled and ends up accessing it. Locking wiphy prevents that.

CVSS 3.1 Base Score 5.5. CVSS Attack Vector: local. CVSS Attack Complexity: low. CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).

Demo Examples

NULL Pointer Dereference

CWE-476

While there are no complete fixes aside from conscientious programming, the following steps will go a long way to ensure that NULL pointer dereferences do not occur.


               
}
/* make use of pointer1 *//* ... */

If you are working with a multithreaded or otherwise asynchronous environment, ensure that proper locking APIs are used to lock before the if statement; and unlock when it has finished.

NULL Pointer Dereference

CWE-476

This example takes an IP address from a user, verifies that it is well formed and then looks up the hostname and copies it into a buffer.


               
}
strcpy(hostname, hp->h_name);/*routine that ensures user_supplied_addr is in the right format for conversion */

If an attacker provides an address that appears to be well-formed, but the address does not resolve to a hostname, then the call to gethostbyaddr() will return NULL. Since the code does not check the return value from gethostbyaddr (CWE-252), a NULL pointer dereference would then occur in the call to strcpy().

Note that this example is also vulnerable to a buffer overflow (see CWE-119).

NULL Pointer Dereference

CWE-476

In the following code, the programmer assumes that the system always has a property named "cmd" defined. If an attacker can control the program's environment so that "cmd" is not defined, the program throws a NULL pointer exception when it attempts to call the trim() method.


               
cmd = cmd.trim();

NULL Pointer Dereference

CWE-476

This application has registered to handle a URL when sent an intent:


               
}......
}
}
int length = URL.length();
...

The application assumes the URL will always be included in the intent. When the URL is not present, the call to getStringExtra() will return null, thus causing a null pointer exception when length() is called.

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