Linux vulnerability

What happened

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: staging: rtl8723bs: fix mismatched free of HalData in rtw_sdio_if1_init() padapter->HalData is allocated via vzalloc(), but incorrectly freed using kfree() in the rtw_sdio_if1_init() error path. Using kfree() to release this vmalloc-backed buffer can lead to memory corruption. Use rtw_hal_data_deinit() to pair the free correctly and free HalData with vfree(). The bug was first flagged by an experimental static analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs. Manual inspection confirms that the issue is still present in current mainline. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have suitable RTL8723BS SDIO hardware to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.

Affected versions

Linux: 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before ff6d1ba247b5c62bdb678f1069abc86ad88a1402 (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before d6158333d630a1b21d8914feaf77a6f5deb185d9 (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before 6c017ab2b0e1b60b5be94636c94720347213d78b (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before 4520d673d49dabfd42c008a33889251025f7d6d5 (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before 423574feaed192063ef0cd0813fb85425f39e539 (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before 737c928ff5092d7e55128a232c231248fc993777 (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before 911190f0b9511c3c81f2f2484414c1ae26f636b3 (git); 554c0a3abf216c991c5ebddcdb2c08689ecd290b through before 264676418b726baca7be49171e306b6aa05cceb0 (git); 4.12 Fixed: See vendor advisory.

Why it matters

Review the vendor advisory and exposure of the affected product to determine operational impact.

Detection & mitigation

• Apply vendor-provided updates or mitigations.
• Review affected product exposure and access logs.