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

powerpc: Don't try to copy PPR for task with NULL pt_regs

powerpc sets up PF_KTHREAD and PF_IO_WORKER with a NULL pt_regs, which
from my (arguably very short) checking is not commonly done for other
archs. This is fine, except when PF_IO_WORKER's have been created and
the task does something that causes a coredump to be generated. Then we
get this crash:

Kernel attempted to read user page (160) - exploit attempt? (uid: 1000)
BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000160
Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000000c3a60
Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Radix SMP NR_CPUS=32 NUMA pSeries
Modules linked in: bochs drm_vram_helper drm_kms_helper xts binfmt_misc ecb ctr syscopyarea sysfillrect cbc sysimgblt drm_ttm_helper aes_generic ttm sg libaes evdev joydev virtio_balloon vmx_crypto gf128mul drm dm_mod fuse loop configfs drm_panel_orientation_quirks ip_tables x_tables autofs4 hid_generic usbhid hid xhci_pci xhci_hcd usbcore usb_common sd_mod
CPU: 1 PID: 1982 Comm: ppc-crash Not tainted 6.3.0-rc2+ #88
Hardware name: IBM pSeries (emulated by qemu) POWER9 (raw) 0x4e1202 0xf000005 of:SLOF,HEAD hv:linux,kvm pSeries
NIP: c0000000000c3a60 LR: c000000000039944 CTR: c0000000000398e0
REGS: c0000000041833b0 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (6.3.0-rc2+)
MSR: 800000000280b033 <SF,VEC,VSX,EE,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 88082828 XER: 200400f8
...
NIP memcpy_power7+0x200/0x7d0
LR ppr_get+0x64/0xb0
Call Trace:
ppr_get+0x40/0xb0 (unreliable)
__regset_get+0x180/0x1f0
regset_get_alloc+0x64/0x90
elf_core_dump+0xb98/0x1b60
do_coredump+0x1c34/0x24a0
get_signal+0x71c/0x1410
do_notify_resume+0x140/0x6f0
interrupt_exit_user_prepare_main+0x29c/0x320
interrupt_exit_user_prepare+0x6c/0xa0
interrupt_return_srr_user+0x8/0x138

Because ppr_get() is trying to copy from a PF_IO_WORKER with a NULL
pt_regs.

Check for a valid pt_regs in both ppc_get/ppr_set, and return an error
if not set. The actual error value doesn't seem to be important here, so
just pick -EINVAL.

[mpe: Trim oops in change log, add Fixes & Cc stable]
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc: Don't try to copy PPR for task with NULL pt_regs powerpc sets up PF_KTHREAD and PF_IO_WORKER with a NULL pt_regs, which from my (arguably very short) checking is not commonly done for other archs. This is fine, except when PF_IO_WORKER's have been created and the task does something that causes a coredump to be generated. Then we get this crash: Kernel attempted to read user page (160) - exploit attempt? (uid: 1000) BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000160 Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000000c3a60 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Radix SMP NR_CPUS=32 NUMA pSeries Modules linked in: bochs drm_vram_helper drm_kms_helper xts binfmt_misc ecb ctr syscopyarea sysfillrect cbc sysimgblt drm_ttm_helper aes_generic ttm sg libaes evdev joydev virtio_balloon vmx_crypto gf128mul drm dm_mod fuse loop configfs drm_panel_orientation_quirks ip_tables x_tables autofs4 hid_generic usbhid hid xhci_pci xhci_hcd usbcore usb_common sd_mod CPU: 1 PID: 1982 Comm: ppc-crash Not tainted 6.3.0-rc2+ #88 Hardware name: IBM pSeries (emulated by qemu) POWER9 (raw) 0x4e1202 0xf000005 of:SLOF,HEAD hv:linux,kvm pSeries NIP: c0000000000c3a60 LR: c000000000039944 CTR: c0000000000398e0 REGS: c0000000041833b0 TRAP: 0300 Not tainted (6.3.0-rc2+) MSR: 800000000280b033 <SF,VEC,VSX,EE,FP,ME,IR,DR,RI,LE> CR: 88082828 XER: 200400f8 ... NIP memcpy_power7+0x200/0x7d0 LR ppr_get+0x64/0xb0 Call Trace: ppr_get+0x40/0xb0 (unreliable) __regset_get+0x180/0x1f0 regset_get_alloc+0x64/0x90 elf_core_dump+0xb98/0x1b60 do_coredump+0x1c34/0x24a0 get_signal+0x71c/0x1410 do_notify_resume+0x140/0x6f0 interrupt_exit_user_prepare_main+0x29c/0x320 interrupt_exit_user_prepare+0x6c/0xa0 interrupt_return_srr_user+0x8/0x138 Because ppr_get() is trying to copy from a PF_IO_WORKER with a NULL pt_regs. Check for a valid pt_regs in both ppc_get/ppr_set, and return an error if not set. The actual error value doesn't seem to be important here, so just pick -EINVAL. [mpe: Trim oops in change log, add Fixes & Cc stable]
Title powerpc: Don't try to copy PPR for task with NULL pt_regs
References

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2025-09-16T16:12:01.464Z

Reserved: 2025-09-16T16:08:59.564Z

Link: CVE-2023-53326

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2025-09-16T17:15:38.783

Modified: 2025-09-16T17:15:38.783

Link: CVE-2023-53326

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.