KernelScan.io

HIGH

net/macb ClkPointer UAF

CVE-2026-43015

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI5.5MEDIUM

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: macb: fix clk handling on PCI glue driver removal platform_device_unregister() may still want to use the registered clks during runtime resume callback. Note that there is a commit d82d5303c4c5 ("net: macb: fix use after free on rmmod") that addressed the similar problem of clk vs platform device unregistration but just moved the bug to another place. Save the pointers to clks into local variables for reuse after platform device is unregistered. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in clk_prepare+0x5a/0x60 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888104f85e00 by task modprobe/597 CPU: 2 PID: 597 Comm: modprobe Not tainted 6.1.164+ #114 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.16.1-0-g3208b098f51a-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x8d/0xba print_report+0x17f/0x496 kasan_report+0xd9/0x180 clk_prepare+0x5a/0x60 macb_runtime_resume+0x13d/0x410 [macb] pm_generic_runtime_resume+0x97/0xd0 __rpm_callback+0xc8/0x4d0 rpm_callback+0xf6/0x230 rpm_resume+0xeeb/0x1a70 __pm_runtime_resume+0xb4/0x170 bus_remove_device+0x2e3/0x4b0 device_del+0x5b3/0xdc0 platform_device_del+0x4e/0x280 platform_device_unregister+0x11/0x50 pci_device_remove+0xae/0x210 device_remove+0xcb/0x180 device_release_driver_internal+0x529/0x770 driver_detach+0xd4/0x1a0 bus_remove_driver+0x135/0x260 driver_unregister+0x72/0xb0 pci_unregister_driver+0x26/0x220 __do_sys_delete_module+0x32e/0x550 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 </TASK> Allocated by task 519: kasan_save_stack+0x2c/0x50 kasan_set_track+0x21/0x30 __kasan_kmalloc+0x8e/0x90 __clk_register+0x458/0x2890 clk_hw_register+0x1a/0x60 __clk_hw_register_fixed_rate+0x255/0x410 clk_register_fixed_rate+0x3c/0xa0 macb_probe+0x1d8/0x42e [macb_pci] local_pci_probe+0xd7/0x190 pci_device_probe+0x252/0x600 really_probe+0x255/0x7f0 __driver_probe_device+0x1ee/0x330 driver_probe_device+0x4c/0x1f0 __driver_attach+0x1df/0x4e0 bus_for_each_dev+0x15d/0x1f0 bus_add_driver+0x486/0x5e0 driver_register+0x23a/0x3d0 do_one_initcall+0xfd/0x4d0 do_init_module+0x18b/0x5a0 load_module+0x5663/0x7950 __do_sys_finit_module+0x101/0x180 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8 Freed by task 597: kasan_save_stack+0x2c/0x50 kasan_set_track+0x21/0x30 kasan_save_free_info+0x2a/0x50 __kasan_slab_free+0x106/0x180 __kmem_cache_free+0xbc/0x320 clk_unregister+0x6de/0x8d0 macb_remove+0x73/0xc0 [macb_pci] pci_device_remove+0xae/0x210 device_remove+0xcb/0x180 device_release_driver_internal+0x529/0x770 driver_detach+0xd4/0x1a0 bus_remove_driver+0x135/0x260 driver_unregister+0x72/0xb0 pci_unregister_driver+0x26/0x220 __do_sys_delete_module+0x32e/0x550 do_syscall_64+0x35/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x6e/0xd8

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

Root users can trigger a use-after-free vulnerability in the macb ethernet driver during PCI device removal. This can lead to information disclosure, limited memory corruption, and kernel crash/denial of service when unloading the driver module or unbinding the device.

Affecteddrivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_pci.c (macb ethernet driver)

Vulnerability analysis

The vulnerability occurs in the macb PCI glue driver's removal function where clock pointers are accessed after the platform device has been unregistered. During platform_device_unregister(), the runtime PM resume callback may still execute and attempt to use the clock objects that have already been freed by clk_unregister(). The fix saves the clock pointers to local variables before platform device unregistration, ensuring they remain valid for subsequent cleanup operations. This is a classic use-after-free scenario in driver cleanup paths where object lifetime management is incorrect.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
4.154.1567f70841a175
4.204.202d96204e4184
5.105.10.253bf64cae913cd
5.155.15.203f310a836da90
5.55.5b3f799cdf830
6.16.1.16816ab4c0e2b15
6.126.12.81ce8fe5287b87
6.186.18.22
6.196.19.12
6.66.6.1343496fb9e66f7
mainline7.0