From: Brian Ellis via B4 Relay <devnull+brianellis.gotenna.com@kernel.org>
To: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: linux-usb@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Kuen-Han Tsai <khtsai@google.com>,
Prashanth K <prashanth.k@oss.qualcomm.com>,
stable@vger.kernel.org, Brian Ellis <brianellis@gotenna.com>
Subject: [PATCH v2] usb: gadget: u_serial: fix NULL deref in gs_close() after failed open
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2026 10:35:45 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260927-u_serial-gs-close-null-v2-1-bdedf57fe96f@gotenna.com> (raw)
From: Brian Ellis <brianellis@gotenna.com>
gs_close() dereferences tty->driver_data without checking it:
struct gs_port *port = tty->driver_data;
struct gserial *gser;
spin_lock_irq(&port->port_lock);
but gs_open() assigns tty->driver_data only after two error returns:
if (!port) {
status = -ENODEV;
goto out;
}
...
status = kfifo_alloc(&port->port_write_buf,
WRITE_BUF_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
if (status) {
...
goto out;
}
...
tty->driver_data = port;
and when ->open() returns an error the tty core calls ->close() anyway:
if (tty->ops->open)
retval = tty->ops->open(tty, filp);
...
if (retval) {
tty_debug_hangup(tty, "open error %d, releasing\n", retval);
tty_unlock(tty); /* need to call tty_release without BTM */
tty_release(inode, filp);
So opening /dev/ttyGS<n> for a port that has already been freed, or when
the write-buffer allocation fails, oopses in gs_close().
This is not the situation commit ffd603f21423 ("usb: gadget: u_serial: Add
null pointer check in gs_start_io") was reverted for. That check was
redundant because gs_start_io()'s callers are required to hold port_lock
with port.tty and port_usb non-NULL, and the dereference it hid was a race.
Here the NULL is not a race: the tty core deliberately calls ->close() for
an ->open() that failed, as its own debug message says, so driver_data is
legitimately unset on that path and every tty driver has to tolerate it.
Fixes: c1dca562be8a ("usb gadget: split out serial core")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Brian Ellis <brianellis@gotenna.com>
---
Found on a downstream 6.6-adi BSP kernel, then confirmed present in usb-linus
by inspection: gs_close() still dereferences tty->driver_data unguarded, and
gs_open() still assigns it only after its error returns.
Compile-tested against usb-linus with allmodconfig (CONFIG_USB_U_SERIAL=m).
Not boot-tested on mainline: the board it was found on needs a vendor BSP
device tree to boot, so the argument here is from source, with both halves
quoted in the commit message.
---
Changes in v2:
- Remove the comment above the check, rather than reword it as Prashanth
suggested. The commit message already explains the path that leaves
tty->driver_data NULL, so the comment only restated it. Happy to add a
reworded one instead if that is preferred.
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260910-u_serial-gs-close-null-v1-1-9a5e848b1dfb@gotenna.com
---
drivers/usb/gadget/function/u_serial.c | 3 +++
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
diff --git a/drivers/usb/gadget/function/u_serial.c b/drivers/usb/gadget/function/u_serial.c
index cdd1dfc66..892d2673e 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/gadget/function/u_serial.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/gadget/function/u_serial.c
@@ -695,6 +695,9 @@ static void gs_close(struct tty_struct *tty, struct file *file)
struct gs_port *port = tty->driver_data;
struct gserial *gser;
+ if (!port)
+ return;
+
spin_lock_irq(&port->port_lock);
if (port->port.count != 1) {
---
base-commit: be4219dd98608736e13e0b790ef742b76a13254d
change-id: 20260910-u_serial-gs-close-null-a80a436666e8
Best regards,
--
Brian Ellis <brianellis@gotenna.com>
reply other threads:[~2026-09-27 16:35 UTC|newest]
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