CVE-2024-43859 - NULL Pointer Dereference

Severity

55%

Complexity

18%

Confidentiality

60%

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to truncate preallocated blocks in f2fs_file_open() chenyuwen reports a f2fs bug as below: Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000011 fscrypt_set_bio_crypt_ctx+0x78/0x1e8 f2fs_grab_read_bio+0x78/0x208 f2fs_submit_page_read+0x44/0x154 f2fs_get_read_data_page+0x288/0x5f4 f2fs_get_lock_data_page+0x60/0x190 truncate_partial_data_page+0x108/0x4fc f2fs_do_truncate_blocks+0x344/0x5f0 f2fs_truncate_blocks+0x6c/0x134 f2fs_truncate+0xd8/0x200 f2fs_iget+0x20c/0x5ac do_garbage_collect+0x5d0/0xf6c f2fs_gc+0x22c/0x6a4 f2fs_disable_checkpoint+0xc8/0x310 f2fs_fill_super+0x14bc/0x1764 mount_bdev+0x1b4/0x21c f2fs_mount+0x20/0x30 legacy_get_tree+0x50/0xbc vfs_get_tree+0x5c/0x1b0 do_new_mount+0x298/0x4cc path_mount+0x33c/0x5fc __arm64_sys_mount+0xcc/0x15c invoke_syscall+0x60/0x150 el0_svc_common+0xb8/0xf8 do_el0_svc+0x28/0xa0 el0_svc+0x24/0x84 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x88/0xec It is because inode.i_crypt_info is not initialized during below path: - mount - f2fs_fill_super - f2fs_disable_checkpoint - f2fs_gc - f2fs_iget - f2fs_truncate So, let's relocate truncation of preallocated blocks to f2fs_file_open(), after fscrypt_file_open().

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.

Stay updated

ExploitPedia is constantly evolving. Sign up to receive a notification when we release additional functionality.

Get in touch

If you'd like to report a bug or have any suggestions for improvements then please do get in touch with us using this form. We will get back to you as soon as we can.