In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xenbus: Use kref to track req lifetime Marek reported seeing a NULL pointer fault in the xenbus_thread callstack: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000 RIP: e030:__wake_up_common+0x4c/0x180 Call Trace: <TASK> __wake_up_common_lock+0x82/0xd0 process_msg+0x18e/0x2f0 xenbus_thread+0x165/0x1c0 process_msg+0x18e is req->cb(req). req->cb is set to xs_wake_up(), a thin wrapper around wake_up(), or xenbus_dev_queue_reply(). It seems like it was xs_wake_up() in this case. It seems like req may have woken up the xs_wait_for_reply(), which kfree()ed the req. When xenbus_thread resumes, it faults on the zero-ed data. Linux Device Drivers 2nd edition states: "Normally, a wake_up call can cause an immediate reschedule to happen, meaning that other processes might run before wake_up returns." ... which would match the behaviour observed. Change to keeping two krefs on each request. One for the caller, and one for xenbus_thread. Each will kref_put() when finished, and the last will free it. This use of kref matches the description in Documentation/core-api/kref.rst
4.10.0-14.16~16.04.14.10.0-19.21~16.04.14.10.0-20.22~16.04.14.10.0-21.23~16.04.14.10.0-22.24~16.04.14.10.0-24.28~16.04.14.10.0-26.30~16.04.14.11.0-13.19~16.04.14.11.0-14.20~16.04.14.13.0-16.19~16.04.3+13 more5.0.0-1021.24~18.04.15.0.0-1022.25~18.04.15.0.0-1023.26~18.04.15.0.0-1024.27~18.04.15.0.0-1025.285.0.0-1027.305.3.0-1016.17~18.04.15.3.0-1017.18~18.04.15.3.0-1019.21~18.04.15.3.0-1023.25~18.04.15.3.0-1028.30~18.04.15.3.0-1030.32~18.04.15.3.0-1032.34~18.04.25.3.0-1033.355.3.0-1034.365.3.0-1035.374.15.0-1002.24.15.0-1003.34.15.0-1004.44.15.0-1008.84.15.0-1009.94.15.0-1012.124.15.0-1013.134.15.0-1014.144.15.0-1018.184.15.0-1019.19+34 more5.3.0-1007.8~18.04.15.3.0-1008.9~18.04.15.3.0-1009.10~18.04.15.3.0-1010.11~18.04.15.3.0-1012.13~18.04.15.3.0-1013.14~18.04.15.3.0-1016.17~18.04.15.3.0-1018.19~18.04.15.3.0-1019.20~18.04.15.3.0-1020.21~18.04.1+6 more4.18.0-1006.6~18.04.14.18.0-1007.7~18.04.14.18.0-1008.8~18.04.15.0.0-1012.12~18.04.24.15.0-1001.14.15.0-1003.34.15.0-1005.54.15.0-1006.64.15.0-1008.84.15.0-1009.94.15.0-1010.104.15.0-1014.144.15.0-1015.154.15.0-1017.18+28 more5.3.0-1008.9~18.04.15.3.0-1009.10~18.04.15.3.0-1010.11~18.04.15.3.0-1012.13~18.04.15.3.0-1014.15~18.04.15.3.0-1016.17~18.04.15.3.0-1017.18~18.04.15.3.0-1018.19~18.04.15.3.0-1020.22~18.04.15.3.0-1026.28~18.04.1+3 more4.15.0-1030.324.15.0-1032.344.15.0-1033.354.15.0-1034.364.15.0-1036.384.15.0-1037.394.15.0-1040.424.15.0-1041.434.15.0-1042.444.15.0-1044.46+23 more5.4.0-1025.25~18.04.15.4.0-1027.28~18.04.15.4.0-1029.31~18.04.15.4.0-1030.32~18.04.15.4.0-1032.34~18.04.15.4.0-1033.35~18.04.15.4.0-1035.37~18.04.15.4.0-1036.38~18.04.15.4.0-1037.39~18.04.15.4.0-1039.41~18.04.1+27 moreExploitability
AV:LAC:LPR:LUI:NScope
S:UImpact
C:NI:NA:HCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H