[PATCH v4 2/2] greybus: raw: fix use-after-free if write is called after disconnect

From: Damien Riégel

Date: Tue Mar 24 2026 - 10:12:49 EST


If a user writes to the chardev after disconnect has been called, the
kernel panics with the following trace (with
CONFIG_INIT_ON_FREE_DEFAULT_ON=y):

BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000218
...
Call Trace:
<TASK>
gb_operation_create_common+0x61/0x180
gb_operation_create_flags+0x28/0xa0
gb_operation_sync_timeout+0x6f/0x100
raw_write+0x7b/0xc7 [gb_raw]
vfs_write+0xcf/0x420
? task_mm_cid_work+0x136/0x220
ksys_write+0x63/0xe0
do_syscall_64+0xa4/0x290
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

Disconnect calls gb_connection_destroy, which ends up freeing the
connection object. When gb_operation_sync is called in the write file
operations, its gets a freed connection as parameter and the kernel
panics.

The gb_connection_destroy cannot be moved out of the disconnect
function, as the Greybus subsystem expect all connections belonging to a
bundle to be destroyed when disconnect returns.

To prevent this bug, use a rw lock to synchronize access between write
and disconnect. This guarantees that the write function doesn't try
to use a disconnected connection.

Fixes: e806c7fb8e9b ("greybus: raw: add raw greybus kernel driver")
Reviewed-by: Johan Hovold <johan@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Damien Riégel <damien.riegel@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v4:
- rebase on v7.0-rc4 (no changes)
- the return value of gb_raw_send now goes to "exit" label in case of
error
- add Reviewed-By: Johan Hovold

Changes in v3:
- rename "connected" flag to "disconnected"
- acquire/release of write semaphore acquire/release were in
gb_raw_send, move them to the caller instead (raw_write)

Changes in v2:
- trim down trace in commit message to keep only the essential part
- convert the mutex that protected the connection to a rw_semaphore
- use a "connected" flag instead of relying on the connection pointer
being NULL or not

drivers/staging/greybus/raw.c | 23 +++++++++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/staging/greybus/raw.c b/drivers/staging/greybus/raw.c
index 47a984554681..459aed0f1240 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/greybus/raw.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/greybus/raw.c
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ struct gb_raw {
struct list_head list;
int list_data;
struct mutex list_lock;
+ struct rw_semaphore disconnect_lock;
+ bool disconnected;
struct cdev cdev;
struct device dev;
};
@@ -200,6 +202,7 @@ static int gb_raw_probe(struct gb_bundle *bundle,

INIT_LIST_HEAD(&raw->list);
mutex_init(&raw->list_lock);
+ init_rwsem(&raw->disconnect_lock);

raw->connection = connection;
greybus_set_drvdata(bundle, raw);
@@ -235,6 +238,11 @@ static void gb_raw_disconnect(struct gb_bundle *bundle)
struct raw_data *temp;

cdev_device_del(&raw->cdev, &raw->dev);
+
+ down_write(&raw->disconnect_lock);
+ raw->disconnected = true;
+ up_write(&raw->disconnect_lock);
+
gb_connection_disable(connection);
gb_connection_destroy(connection);

@@ -277,11 +285,22 @@ static ssize_t raw_write(struct file *file, const char __user *buf,
if (count > MAX_PACKET_SIZE)
return -E2BIG;

+ down_read(&raw->disconnect_lock);
+
+ if (raw->disconnected) {
+ retval = -ENODEV;
+ goto exit;
+ }
+
retval = gb_raw_send(raw, count, buf);
if (retval)
- return retval;
+ goto exit;

- return count;
+ retval = count;
+exit:
+ up_read(&raw->disconnect_lock);
+
+ return retval;
}

static ssize_t raw_read(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count,
--
2.52.0