Bug 2532250 (CVE-2026-81001)

Summary: CVE-2026-81001 kernel: slip: fix use-after-free in sl_sync()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) driver. A race condition in the `sl_sync()` function allows for a use-after-free vulnerability, where the driver attempts to access a network device pointer after it has been freed. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a denial of service, leading to a system crash.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 21:42:28 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

slip: fix use-after-free in sl_sync()

slip_devs[] stores bare net_device pointers and takes no reference on
them.  sl_sync() and sl_alloc() walk that table from slip_open() under
rtnl_lock(), while an entry is dropped by sl_free_netdev(), which
sl_setup() installs as dev->priv_destructor.

priv_destructor is called from netdev_run_todo(), which deliberately
runs with the RTNL semaphore released so that it can sleep while waiting
for the device refcount to drop:

	/* Snapshot list, allow later requests */
	list_replace_init(&net_todo_list, &list);

	__rtnl_unlock();
	...
		if (dev->priv_destructor)
			dev->priv_destructor(dev);	/* slip_devs[i] = NULL */
		if (dev->needs_free_netdev)
			free_netdev(dev);
		...
		/* Free network device */
		kobject_put(&dev->dev.kobj);

So rtnl_lock() does not serialise slip_open() against the teardown at
all.  sl_sync() can load slip_devs[i] while the entry is still published
and dereference it after netdev_run_todo() has run the destructor and
released the device:

  CPU0 (slip_open)                 CPU1 (slip_close)
                                   unregister_netdev()
                                     rtnl_unlock()
                                       netdev_run_todo()
                                         __rtnl_unlock()
  rtnl_lock()
  sl_sync()
    dev = slip_devs[i]
                                         priv_destructor(dev)
                                           slip_devs[i] = NULL
                                         kobject_put(&dev->dev.kobj)
                                           /* dev is freed */
    sl = netdev_priv(dev)
    if (sl->tty || sl->leased)     /* use-after-free */

  BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in sl_sync drivers/net/slip/slip.c:730 [inline]
  BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in slip_open+0xef4/0x1210 drivers/net/slip/slip.c:806
  Read of size 1 at addr ffff8880712dac71 by task syz-executor.2/6506

  CPU: 2 PID: 6506 Comm: syz-executor.2 Not tainted 6.1.134-syzkaller-00260-g0c8fc3469765 #0
  Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.12.0-1 04/01/2014
  Call Trace:
   sl_sync drivers/net/slip/slip.c:730 [inline]
   slip_open+0xef4/0x1210 drivers/net/slip/slip.c:806
   tty_ldisc_open+0xa2/0x120 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:433
   tty_set_ldisc+0x324/0x720 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:564
   tiocsetd drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2428 [inline]
   tty_ioctl+0x5f0/0x1530 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:2712

  Allocated by task 6502:
   alloc_netdev_mqs+0x98/0xfe0 net/core/dev.c:10719
   sl_alloc drivers/net/slip/slip.c:756 [inline]
   slip_open+0x36d/0x1210 drivers/net/slip/slip.c:817
   tty_ldisc_open+0xa2/0x120 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:433
   tty_set_ldisc+0x324/0x720 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:564

  Freed by task 6497:
   device_release+0xa2/0x240 drivers/base/core.c:2507
   kobject_put+0x179/0x280 lib/kobject.c:729
   netdev_run_todo+0x6c8/0xef0 net/core/dev.c:10509
   slip_close+0x166/0x1c0 drivers/net/slip/slip.c:906
   tty_ldisc_close+0x113/0x1a0 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:456
   tty_ldisc_kill+0x94/0x160 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:614
   tty_ldisc_release+0xe3/0x2b0 drivers/tty/tty_ldisc.c:782
   tty_release+0xbcc/0xe70 drivers/tty/tty_io.c:1860

Commit e58c19124189 ("slip: Fix use-after-free Read in slip_open") fixed
a different source of stale entries - a device left in slip_devs[] after
slip_open() freed it on the registration error path - and does not
address this race, which is why the report survives it.

Drop the entry from ndo_uninit instead.  unregister_netdevice() calls
ndo_uninit under RTNL, before the device is queued to netdev_run_todo(),
so an entry that sl_sync() can still see while holding RTNL belongs to a
device that cannot be freed until RTNL is dropped.  sl_free_netdev()
stays only for the slip_open() error path, where register_netdevice()
may have failed before ndo_init and ndo_uninit is then not called
either.  Both running for the same device is harmless: the
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