Bug 2397558 (CVE-2025-39881)

Summary: CVE-2025-39881 kernel: kernfs: Fix UAF in polling when open file is released
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A use-after-free race condition exists in the linux kernel such that When cgroup.pressure is disabled, it releases PSI triggers via cgroup_file_release(), Frees of->priv through kernfs_drain_open_files() leading to damage to the availability and integrity of the system.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-09-23 07:01:37 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

kernfs: Fix UAF in polling when open file is released

A use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability was identified in the PSI (Pressure
Stall Information) monitoring mechanism:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in psi_trigger_poll+0x3c/0x140
Read of size 8 at addr ffff3de3d50bd308 by task systemd/1

psi_trigger_poll+0x3c/0x140
cgroup_pressure_poll+0x70/0xa0
cgroup_file_poll+0x8c/0x100
kernfs_fop_poll+0x11c/0x1c0
ep_item_poll.isra.0+0x188/0x2c0

Allocated by task 1:
cgroup_file_open+0x88/0x388
kernfs_fop_open+0x73c/0xaf0
do_dentry_open+0x5fc/0x1200
vfs_open+0xa0/0x3f0
do_open+0x7e8/0xd08
path_openat+0x2fc/0x6b0
do_filp_open+0x174/0x368

Freed by task 8462:
cgroup_file_release+0x130/0x1f8
kernfs_drain_open_files+0x17c/0x440
kernfs_drain+0x2dc/0x360
kernfs_show+0x1b8/0x288
cgroup_file_show+0x150/0x268
cgroup_pressure_write+0x1dc/0x340
cgroup_file_write+0x274/0x548

Reproduction Steps:
1. Open test/cpu.pressure and establish epoll monitoring
2. Disable monitoring: echo 0 > test/cgroup.pressure
3. Re-enable monitoring: echo 1 > test/cgroup.pressure

The race condition occurs because:
1. When cgroup.pressure is disabled (echo 0 > cgroup.pressure), it:
   - Releases PSI triggers via cgroup_file_release()
   - Frees of->priv through kernfs_drain_open_files()
2. While epoll still holds reference to the file and continues polling
3. Re-enabling (echo 1 > cgroup.pressure) accesses freed of->priv

epolling			disable/enable cgroup.pressure
fd=open(cpu.pressure)
while(1)
...
epoll_wait
kernfs_fop_poll
kernfs_get_active = true	echo 0 > cgroup.pressure
...				cgroup_file_show
				kernfs_show
				// inactive kn
				kernfs_drain_open_files
				cft->release(of);
				kfree(ctx);
				...
kernfs_get_active = false
				echo 1 > cgroup.pressure
				kernfs_show
				kernfs_activate_one(kn);
kernfs_fop_poll
kernfs_get_active = true
cgroup_file_poll
psi_trigger_poll
// UAF
...
end: close(fd)

To address this issue, introduce kernfs_get_active_of() for kernfs open
files to obtain active references. This function will fail if the open file
has been released. Replace kernfs_get_active() with kernfs_get_active_of()
to prevent further operations on released file descriptors.