CVE-2020-10690
kernel: use-after-free in cdev_put() when a PTP device is removed while it's chardev is open
Severity
LowRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.1
Review impact separately from score.
Published · November 25, 2019
Updated · June 28, 2026
Description
There is a use-after-free problem seen due to a race condition between the release of ptp_clock and cdev while resource deallocation. When a (high privileged) process allocates a ptp device file (like /dev/ptpX) and voluntarily goes to sleep. During this time if the underlying device is removed, it can cause an exploitable condition as the process wakes up to terminate and clean all attached files. The system crashes due to the cdev structure being invalid (as already freed) which is pointed to by the inode.
Statement
This issue is rated as having Low impact as there is a need for high privilege access to trigger this problem. This will need an access to /dev/ptpX which is privileged operation, also removing the module is needed (again, privileged operation).
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.1 · 6.5CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE-416 · Use After Free