Bug 2345221 (CVE-2025-21695)

Summary: CVE-2025-21695 kernel: platform/x86: dell-uart-backlight: fix serdev race
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: dfreiber, drow, jburrell, vkumar
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-02-12 14:07:08 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

platform/x86: dell-uart-backlight: fix serdev race

The dell_uart_bl_serdev_probe() function calls devm_serdev_device_open()
before setting the client ops via serdev_device_set_client_ops(). This
ordering can trigger a NULL pointer dereference in the serdev controller's
receive_buf handler, as it assumes serdev->ops is valid when
SERPORT_ACTIVE is set.

This is similar to the issue fixed in commit 5e700b384ec1
("platform/chrome: cros_ec_uart: properly fix race condition") where
devm_serdev_device_open() was called before fully initializing the
device.

Fix the race by ensuring client ops are set before enabling the port via
devm_serdev_device_open().

Note, serdev_device_set_baudrate() and serdev_device_set_flow_control()
calls should be after the devm_serdev_device_open() call.