CVE-2021-47225: linux kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mac80211: fix deadlock in AP/VLAN handling Syzbot reports that when you have AP_VLAN interfaces that are up and close the AP interface they belong to, we get a deadlock. No surprise - since we dev_close() them with the wiphy mutex held, which goes back into the netdev notifier in cfg80211 and tries to acquire the wiphy mutex there. To fix this, we need to do two things: 1) prevent changing iftype while AP_VLANs are up, we can't easily fix this case since cfg80211 already calls us with the wiphy mutex held, but change_interface() is relatively rare in drivers anyway, so changing iftype isn't used much (and userspace has to fall back to down/change/up anyway) 2) pull the dev_close() loop over VLANs out of the wiphy mutex section in the normal stop case
CVE-2021-47225CVSS 5.5Linux

CVE-2021-47225: linux kernel vulnerability

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mac80211: fix deadlock in AP/VLAN handling Syzbot reports that when you have AP_VLAN interfaces that are up and close the AP interface they belong to, we get a deadlock. No surprise - since we dev_close() them with the wiphy mutex held, which goes back into the netdev notifier in cfg80211 and tries to acquire the wiphy mutex there. To fix this, we need to do two things: 1) prevent changing iftype while AP_VLANs are up, we can't easily fix this case since cfg80211 already calls us with the wiphy mutex held, but change_interface() is relatively rare in drivers anyway, so changing iftype isn't used much (and userspace has to fall back to down/change/up anyway) 2) pull the dev_close() loop over VLANs out of the wiphy mutex section in the normal stop case

CVSS
5.5 MEDIUM
EPSS
4.31%
Known exploited
not in KEV
Product
linux kernel

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mac80211: fix deadlock in AP/VLAN handling Syzbot reports that when you have AP_VLAN interfaces that are up and close the AP interface they belong to, we get a deadlock. No surprise - since we dev_close() them with the wiphy mutex held, which goes back into the netdev notifier in cfg80211 and tries to acquire the wiphy mutex there. To fix this, we need to do two things: 1) prevent changing iftype while AP_VLANs are up, we can't easily fix this case since cfg80211 already calls us with the wiphy mutex held, but change_interface() is relatively rare in drivers anyway, so changing iftype isn't used much (and userspace has to fall back to down/change/up anyway) 2) pull the dev_close() loop over VLANs out of the wiphy mutex section in the normal stop case

Sources

Security newsletter

Get new CVE alerts before they become an incident

We send selected infrastructure threats in English, with practical notes for DataHouse environments.

  • DataHouse: server administration and secure cloud
  • Hostilla.pl: hosting and mail services
  • SecDNS.pl: free DNS security layer