Linux Media Controller development
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Nguyen Ngoc Thang <ngocthang2710.1999@gmail.com>
To: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@kernel.org>,
	Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@kernel.org>
Cc: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>,
	linux-media@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	Nguyen Ngoc Thang <ngocthang2710.1999@gmail.com>,
	syzbot+74de6401dbdd377b5746@syzkaller.appspotmail.com,
	stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] media: v4l2-subdev: fix NULL deref in subdev_open() racing with unbind
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2026 23:27:09 +0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260919162709.314464-1-ngocthang2710.1999@gmail.com> (raw)

subdev_open() dereferences sd->v4l2_dev->mdev and then
sd->entity.graph_obj.mdev->dev->driver->owner. v4l2_open() only checks
that the node is still registered, while
v4l2_device_unregister_subdev() clears sd->v4l2_dev and the entity's mdev
before it unregisters the node. Opening a sub-device node while the
driver is being unbound (e.g. vimc through sysfs) can therefore see a
NULL entity mdev, or a NULL dev->driver once remove() has finished, and
oops:

  Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000
  KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
  RIP: 0010:subdev_open+0x193/0x510 drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-subdev.c:115
  Call Trace:
   v4l2_open+0x1d2/0x490 drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-dev.c:433
   chrdev_open+0x234/0x6a0 fs/char_dev.c:411

Read the entity's mdev once and treat NULL as "no media device". Take
the driver module reference under device_lock(), which is what unbind
holds while it clears dev->driver, and fail with -ENODEV if the driver
is already gone.

Reported-by: syzbot+74de6401dbdd377b5746@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=74de6401dbdd377b5746
Fixes: 218bf10e39ed ("media: v4l2-subdev: handle module refcounting here")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Nguyen Ngoc Thang <ngocthang2710.1999@gmail.com>
---
Root cause
  v4l2_open() checks video_is_registered() and then calls subdev_open().
  v4l2_device_unregister_subdev() clears sd->v4l2_dev and the entity's
  graph_obj.mdev *before* video_unregister_device() on the node, so an open
  in that window sees a NULL mdev. After remove() returns, dev->driver is
  also NULL. subdev_open() dereferences both unchecked (v4l2-subdev.c:115).

Fix
  Snapshot entity mdev once (NULL == no media device), and take the driver
  module reference under device_lock(dev), the lock unbind holds while it
  clears dev->driver; return -ENODEV if the driver is gone. Errors go
  through the existing "err" label.

Testing (QEMU x86_64, KASAN, vimc built in, syzbot's C reproducer:
16 threads opening /dev/v4l-subdevN vs. one thread doing vimc bind/unbind,
vivid.n_devs=1 to avoid minor exhaustion at boot):
  before: 32 x "RIP: subdev_open+0x193/0x510" GPF (same as syzbot report)
  after : 0 oopses, 0 KASAN reports, reproducer runs to completion
  (checked with 1 ms and 30 ms bind/unbind period)

Unrelated finding (not addressed here)
  If the sub-device node registration in vimc_probe() fails (e.g.
  "videodev: could not get a free minor"), the error path in
  vimc_register_devices() frees the entities and then
  v4l2_device_unregister() hits a slab-use-after-free. Easy to trigger
  with the same reproducer if minors are exhausted. I'll look at it
  separately.

 drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-subdev.c | 20 ++++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-subdev.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-subdev.c
index e9f81b9be9e2..cec63694a658 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-subdev.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-subdev.c
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ static int subdev_open(struct file *file)
 	struct video_device *vdev = video_devdata(file);
 	struct v4l2_subdev *sd = vdev_to_v4l2_subdev(vdev);
 	struct v4l2_subdev_fh *subdev_fh;
+	struct media_device *mdev;
 	int ret;
 
 	subdev_fh = kzalloc_obj(*subdev_fh);
@@ -112,15 +113,22 @@ static int subdev_open(struct file *file)
 	v4l2_fh_init(&subdev_fh->vfh, vdev);
 	v4l2_fh_add(&subdev_fh->vfh, file);
 
-	if (sd->v4l2_dev->mdev && sd->entity.graph_obj.mdev->dev) {
-		struct module *owner;
+	/* Unregistration clears the entity's mdev without waiting for open. */
+	mdev = READ_ONCE(sd->entity.graph_obj.mdev);
+	if (mdev && mdev->dev) {
+		struct device *dev = mdev->dev;
 
-		owner = sd->entity.graph_obj.mdev->dev->driver->owner;
-		if (!try_module_get(owner)) {
+		/* Unbind clears dev->driver under the device lock. */
+		device_lock(dev);
+		if (!dev->driver)
+			ret = -ENODEV;
+		else if (!try_module_get(dev->driver->owner))
 			ret = -EBUSY;
+		else
+			subdev_fh->owner = dev->driver->owner;
+		device_unlock(dev);
+		if (ret)
 			goto err;
-		}
-		subdev_fh->owner = owner;
 	}
 
 	if (sd->internal_ops && sd->internal_ops->open) {
-- 
2.43.0


             reply	other threads:[~2026-09-19 16:27 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-09-19 16:27 Nguyen Ngoc Thang [this message]
2026-09-19 17:02 ` [PATCH] media: v4l2-subdev: fix NULL deref in subdev_open() racing with unbind Laurent Pinchart
2026-09-19 17:12   ` Ngọc Thắng Nguyễn
2026-09-19 17:17     ` Laurent Pinchart

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260919162709.314464-1-ngocthang2710.1999@gmail.com \
    --to=ngocthang2710.1999@gmail.com \
    --cc=hverkuil@kernel.org \
    --cc=laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-media@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=mchehab@kernel.org \
    --cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=syzbot+74de6401dbdd377b5746@syzkaller.appspotmail.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox