In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tls: fix missing memory barrier in tls_init
In tls_init(), a write memory barrier is missing, and store-store reordering may cause NULL dereference in tls_{setsockopt,getsockopt}.
CPU0 CPU1
// In tls_init() // In tls_ctx_create() ctx = kzalloc() ctx->sk_proto = READ_ONCE(sk->sk_prot) -(1)
// In update_sk_prot() WRITE_ONCE(sk->sk_prot, tls_prots) -(2)
// In sock_common_setsockopt()
READ_ONCE(sk->sk_prot)->setsockopt()
// In tls_{setsockopt,getsockopt}()
ctx->sk_proto->setsockopt() -(3)
In the above scenario, when (1) and (2) are reordered, (3) can observe the NULL value of ctx->sk_proto, causing NULL dereference.
To fix it, we rely on rcu_assign_pointer() which implies the release barrier semantic. By moving rcu_assign_pointer() after ctx->sk_proto is initialized, we can ensure that ctx->sk_proto are visible when changing sk->sk_prot.
Exploitability
AV:LAC:LPR:LUI:NScope
S:UImpact
C:NI:NA:H5.5/CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H