Bug 2425028 (CVE-2022-50731)

Summary: CVE-2022-50731 kernel: Linux kernel: Denial of Service in akcipher due to missing set_priv_key stub
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's cryptographic akcipher subsystem. This vulnerability occurs when a private key is set on an akcipher instance that does not support signature generation, leading to a kernel crash. A local attacker could exploit this missing default implementation to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) on the system.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-12-24 13:03:05 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

crypto: akcipher - default implementation for setting a private key

Changes from v1:
  * removed the default implementation from set_pub_key: it is assumed that
    an implementation must always have this callback defined as there are
    no use case for an algorithm, which doesn't need a public key

Many akcipher implementations (like ECDSA) support only signature
verifications, so they don't have all callbacks defined.

Commit 78a0324f4a53 ("crypto: akcipher - default implementations for
request callbacks") introduced default callbacks for sign/verify
operations, which just return an error code.

However, these are not enough, because before calling sign the caller would
likely call set_priv_key first on the instantiated transform (as the
in-kernel testmgr does). This function does not have a default stub, so the
kernel crashes, when trying to set a private key on an akcipher, which
doesn't support signature generation.

I've noticed this, when trying to add a KAT vector for ECDSA signature to
the testmgr.

With this patch the testmgr returns an error in dmesg (as it should)
instead of crashing the kernel NULL ptr dereference.