CVE-2025-38632

Published: August 26, 2025Last modified: August 26, 2025

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinmux: fix race causing mux_owner NULL with active mux_usecount commit 5a3e85c3c397 ("pinmux: Use sequential access to access desc->pinmux data") tried to address the issue when two client of the same gpio calls pinctrl_select_state() for the same functionality, was resulting in NULL pointer issue while accessing desc->mux_owner. However, issue was not completely fixed due to the way it was handled and it can still result in the same NULL pointer. The issue occurs due to the following interleaving: cpu0 (process A) cpu1 (process B) pin_request() { pin_free() { mutex_lock() desc->mux_usecount--; //becomes 0 .. mutex_unlock() mutex_lock(desc->mux) desc->mux_usecount++; // becomes 1 desc->mux_owner = owner; mutex_unlock(desc->mux) mutex_lock(desc->mux) desc->mux_owner = NULL; mutex_unlock(desc->mux) This sequence leads to a state where the pin appears to be in use (`mux_usecount == 1`) but has no owner (`mux_owner == NULL`), which can cause NULL pointer on next pin_request on the same pin. Ensure that updates to mux_usecount and mux_owner are performed atomically under the same lock. Only clear mux_owner when mux_usecount reaches zero and no new owner has been assigned.

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References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b075c011032f88d1cfde3b45d6dcf08b44140eb
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22b585cbd67d14df3b91529d1b990661c300faa9
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b2a3e7189028aa7c4d53a84364f2ea9fb209787
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ea3f6b9a67be3476e331ce51cac316c2614a564
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7bd6e3971eb7f0e34d2fdce1b18b08094e0c804