In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

9p: set req refcount to zero to avoid uninitialized usage

When a new request is allocated, the refcount will be zero if it is
reused, but if the request is newly allocated from slab, it is not fully
initialized before being added to idr.

If the p9_read_work got a response before the refcount initiated. It will
use a uninitialized req, which will result in a bad request data struct.

Here is the logs from syzbot.

Corrupted memory at 0xffff88807eade00b [ 0xff 0x07 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
0x00 0x00 . . . . . . . . ] (in kfence-#110):
p9_fcall_fini net/9p/client.c:248 [inline]
p9_req_put net/9p/client.c:396 [inline]
p9_req_put+0x208/0x250 net/9p/client.c:390
p9_client_walk+0x247/0x540 net/9p/client.c:1165
clone_fid fs/9p/fid.h:21 [inline]
v9fs_fid_xattr_set+0xe4/0x2b0 fs/9p/xattr.c:118
v9fs_xattr_set fs/9p/xattr.c:100 [inline]
v9fs_xattr_handler_set+0x6f/0x120 fs/9p/xattr.c:159
__vfs_setxattr+0x119/0x180 fs/xattr.c:182
__vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x129/0x5f0 fs/xattr.c:216
__vfs_setxattr_locked+0x1d3/0x260 fs/xattr.c:277
vfs_setxattr+0x143/0x340 fs/xattr.c:309
setxattr+0x146/0x160 fs/xattr.c:617
path_setxattr+0x197/0x1c0 fs/xattr.c:636
__do_sys_setxattr fs/xattr.c:652 [inline]
__se_sys_setxattr fs/xattr.c:648 [inline]
__ia32_sys_setxattr+0xc0/0x160 fs/xattr.c:648
do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline]
__do_fast_syscall_32+0x65/0xf0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178
do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203
entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82

Below is a similar scenario, the scenario in the syzbot log looks more
complicated than this one, but this patch can fix it.

T21124 p9_read_work
======================== second trans =================================
p9_client_walk
p9_client_rpc
p9_client_prepare_req
p9_tag_alloc
req = kmem_cache_alloc(p9_req_cache, GFP_NOFS);
tag = idr_alloc
<< preempted >>
req->tc.tag = tag;
/* req->[refcount/tag] == uninitialized */
m->rreq = p9_tag_lookup(m->client, m->rc.tag);
/* increments uninitalized refcount */

refcount_set(&req->refcount, 2);
/* cb drops one ref */
p9_client_cb(req)
/* reader thread drops its ref:
request is incorrectly freed */
p9_req_put(req)
/* use after free and ref underflow */
p9_req_put(req)

To fix it, we can initialize the refcount to zero before add to idr.

Metrics

No CVSS v4.0

No CVSS v3.1

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

No EPSS score available.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

Affected Vendors & Products

No data.

No data.

No data.

No data.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.

Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

References
Link Providers
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1cabce56626a61f4f02452cba61ad4332a4b73f8 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/26273ade77f54716e30dfd40ac6e85ceb54ac0f9 cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73c47b3123b351de2d3714a72a336c0f72f203af cve-icon cve-icon
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/967fc34f297e40fd2e068cf6b0c3eb4916228539 cve-icon cve-icon
History

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: 9p: set req refcount to zero to avoid uninitialized usage When a new request is allocated, the refcount will be zero if it is reused, but if the request is newly allocated from slab, it is not fully initialized before being added to idr. If the p9_read_work got a response before the refcount initiated. It will use a uninitialized req, which will result in a bad request data struct. Here is the logs from syzbot. Corrupted memory at 0xffff88807eade00b [ 0xff 0x07 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 . . . . . . . . ] (in kfence-#110): p9_fcall_fini net/9p/client.c:248 [inline] p9_req_put net/9p/client.c:396 [inline] p9_req_put+0x208/0x250 net/9p/client.c:390 p9_client_walk+0x247/0x540 net/9p/client.c:1165 clone_fid fs/9p/fid.h:21 [inline] v9fs_fid_xattr_set+0xe4/0x2b0 fs/9p/xattr.c:118 v9fs_xattr_set fs/9p/xattr.c:100 [inline] v9fs_xattr_handler_set+0x6f/0x120 fs/9p/xattr.c:159 __vfs_setxattr+0x119/0x180 fs/xattr.c:182 __vfs_setxattr_noperm+0x129/0x5f0 fs/xattr.c:216 __vfs_setxattr_locked+0x1d3/0x260 fs/xattr.c:277 vfs_setxattr+0x143/0x340 fs/xattr.c:309 setxattr+0x146/0x160 fs/xattr.c:617 path_setxattr+0x197/0x1c0 fs/xattr.c:636 __do_sys_setxattr fs/xattr.c:652 [inline] __se_sys_setxattr fs/xattr.c:648 [inline] __ia32_sys_setxattr+0xc0/0x160 fs/xattr.c:648 do_syscall_32_irqs_on arch/x86/entry/common.c:112 [inline] __do_fast_syscall_32+0x65/0xf0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:178 do_fast_syscall_32+0x33/0x70 arch/x86/entry/common.c:203 entry_SYSENTER_compat_after_hwframe+0x70/0x82 Below is a similar scenario, the scenario in the syzbot log looks more complicated than this one, but this patch can fix it. T21124 p9_read_work ======================== second trans ================================= p9_client_walk p9_client_rpc p9_client_prepare_req p9_tag_alloc req = kmem_cache_alloc(p9_req_cache, GFP_NOFS); tag = idr_alloc << preempted >> req->tc.tag = tag; /* req->[refcount/tag] == uninitialized */ m->rreq = p9_tag_lookup(m->client, m->rc.tag); /* increments uninitalized refcount */ refcount_set(&req->refcount, 2); /* cb drops one ref */ p9_client_cb(req) /* reader thread drops its ref: request is incorrectly freed */ p9_req_put(req) /* use after free and ref underflow */ p9_req_put(req) To fix it, we can initialize the refcount to zero before add to idr.
Title 9p: set req refcount to zero to avoid uninitialized usage
References
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2025-09-15T14:49:50.150Z

Reserved: 2025-09-15T14:18:36.816Z

Link: CVE-2022-50335

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Awaiting Analysis

Published: 2025-09-15T15:15:45.817

Modified: 2025-09-15T15:22:27.090

Link: CVE-2022-50335

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.