Re: [PATCH 1/3] platform/x86: dell-smbios-wmi: Fix chardev resource management

On Thu, 16 Jul 2026, Armin Wolf wrote:

> When unbinding the WMI driver while a userspace application has
> an open file descriptor for the character device, a UAF occurs:
> 
> KASAN: slab-use-after-free in _copy_to_user from platform/x86/dell-smbios-wmi
> 
> The reason for this is that even after calling misc_deregister(),
> userspace appications can still call read() and/or ioctl() on open
> file descriptors associated with the already unregistered character
> device. This causes a UAF by attempting to access the already freed
> state container of the WMI driver.
> 
> Fix this by no longer storing the state container inside
> filp->private_data. Instead retrieve the state container using
> get_first_smbios_priv() and return -ENODEV if the state container
> does not exist anymore.
> 
> Reported-by: Shuangpeng Bai <[email protected]>
> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/platform-driver-x86/[email protected]/
> Fixes: 93885e85a77f ("platform/x86: dell-smbios-wmi: Stop using WMI chardev")
> Signed-off-by: Armin Wolf <[email protected]>
> ---
>  drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-smbios-wmi.c | 66 ++++++++++-----------
>  1 file changed, 33 insertions(+), 33 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-smbios-wmi.c b/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-smbios-wmi.c
> index 64d0871b706e..c8a6e711283d 100644
> --- a/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-smbios-wmi.c
> +++ b/drivers/platform/x86/dell/dell-smbios-wmi.c
> @@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
>   */
>  #define pr_fmt(fmt) KBUILD_MODNAME ": " fmt
>  
> +#include <linux/cleanup.h>
>  #include <linux/device.h>
>  #include <linux/dmi.h>
>  #include <linux/fs.h>
> @@ -13,14 +14,14 @@
>  #include <linux/miscdevice.h>
>  #include <linux/module.h>
>  #include <linux/mutex.h>
> +#include <linux/rwsem.h>
>  #include <linux/uaccess.h>
>  #include <linux/wmi.h>
>  #include <uapi/linux/wmi.h>
>  #include "dell-smbios.h"
>  #include "dell-wmi-descriptor.h"
>  
> -static DEFINE_MUTEX(call_mutex);
> -static DEFINE_MUTEX(list_mutex);
> +static DECLARE_RWSEM(list_lock);

Please add a comment about what this protects.

Maybe move wmi_list next to it so the connection between them is more 
obvious?

Should get_first_smbios_priv() use lockdep_assert_held() to check it's 
called from a safe context?

-- 
 i.

>  static int wmi_supported;
>  
>  struct misc_bios_flags_structure {
> @@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ struct misc_bios_flags_structure {
>  #define DELL_WMI_SMBIOS_GUID "A80593CE-A997-11DA-B012-B622A1EF5492"
>  
>  struct wmi_smbios_priv {
> +	struct mutex call_lock; /* Protects the content of the SMBIOS buffer */
>  	struct dell_wmi_smbios_buffer *buf;
>  	struct list_head list;
>  	struct wmi_device *wdev;
> @@ -87,40 +89,35 @@ static int dell_smbios_wmi_call(struct calling_interface_buffer *buffer)
>  	size_t size;
>  	int ret;
>  
> -	mutex_lock(&call_mutex);
> +	guard(rwsem_read)(&list_lock);
> +
>  	priv = get_first_smbios_priv();
> -	if (!priv) {
> -		ret = -ENODEV;
> -		goto out_wmi_call;
> -	}
> +	if (!priv)
> +		return -ENODEV;
>  
>  	size = sizeof(struct calling_interface_buffer);
>  	difference = priv->req_buf_size - sizeof(u64) - size;
>  
> +	guard(mutex)(&priv->call_lock);
> +
>  	memset(&priv->buf->ext, 0, difference);
>  	memcpy(&priv->buf->std, buffer, size);
>  	ret = run_smbios_call(priv->wdev);
>  	memcpy(buffer, &priv->buf->std, size);
> -out_wmi_call:
> -	mutex_unlock(&call_mutex);
>  
>  	return ret;
>  }
>  
> -static int dell_smbios_wmi_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
> +static ssize_t dell_smbios_wmi_read(struct file *filp, char __user *buffer, size_t length,
> +				    loff_t *offset)
>  {
>  	struct wmi_smbios_priv *priv;
>  
> -	priv = container_of(filp->private_data, struct wmi_smbios_priv, char_dev);
> -	filp->private_data = priv;
> +	guard(rwsem_read)(&list_lock);
>  
> -	return nonseekable_open(inode, filp);
> -}
> -
> -static ssize_t dell_smbios_wmi_read(struct file *filp, char __user *buffer, size_t length,
> -				    loff_t *offset)
> -{
> -	struct wmi_smbios_priv *priv = filp->private_data;
> +	priv = get_first_smbios_priv();
> +	if (!priv)
> +		return -ENODEV;
>  
>  	return simple_read_from_buffer(buffer, length, offset, &priv->req_buf_size,
>  				       sizeof(priv->req_buf_size));
> @@ -167,22 +164,24 @@ static long dell_smbios_wmi_do_ioctl(struct wmi_smbios_priv *priv,
>  static long dell_smbios_wmi_ioctl(struct file *filp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
>  {
>  	struct dell_wmi_smbios_buffer __user *input = (struct dell_wmi_smbios_buffer __user *)arg;
> -	struct wmi_smbios_priv *priv = filp->private_data;
> -	long ret;
> +	struct wmi_smbios_priv *priv;
>  
>  	if (cmd != DELL_WMI_SMBIOS_CMD)
>  		return -ENOIOCTLCMD;
>  
> -	mutex_lock(&call_mutex);
> -	ret = dell_smbios_wmi_do_ioctl(priv, input);
> -	mutex_unlock(&call_mutex);
> +	guard(rwsem_read)(&list_lock);
>  
> -	return ret;
> +	priv = get_first_smbios_priv();
> +	if (!priv)
> +		return -ENODEV;
> +
> +	guard(mutex)(&priv->call_lock);
> +
> +	return dell_smbios_wmi_do_ioctl(priv, input);
>  }
>  
>  static const struct file_operations dell_smbios_wmi_fops = {
>  	.owner		= THIS_MODULE,
> -	.open		= dell_smbios_wmi_open,
>  	.read		= dell_smbios_wmi_read,
>  	.unlocked_ioctl	= dell_smbios_wmi_ioctl,
>  	.compat_ioctl	= compat_ptr_ioctl,
> @@ -254,6 +253,10 @@ static int dell_smbios_wmi_probe(struct wmi_device *wdev, const void *context)
>  	if (!priv->buf)
>  		return -ENOMEM;
>  
> +	ret = devm_mutex_init(&wdev->dev, &priv->call_lock);
> +	if (ret)
> +		return ret;
> +
>  	ret = dell_smbios_wmi_register_chardev(priv);
>  	if (ret)
>  		return ret;
> @@ -262,9 +265,8 @@ static int dell_smbios_wmi_probe(struct wmi_device *wdev, const void *context)
>  	if (ret)
>  		return ret;
>  
> -	mutex_lock(&list_mutex);
> +	guard(rwsem_write)(&list_lock);
>  	list_add_tail(&priv->list, &wmi_list);
> -	mutex_unlock(&list_mutex);
>  
>  	return 0;
>  }
> @@ -273,12 +275,10 @@ static void dell_smbios_wmi_remove(struct wmi_device *wdev)
>  {
>  	struct wmi_smbios_priv *priv = dev_get_drvdata(&wdev->dev);
>  
> -	mutex_lock(&call_mutex);
> -	mutex_lock(&list_mutex);
> -	list_del(&priv->list);
> -	mutex_unlock(&list_mutex);
>  	dell_smbios_unregister_device(&wdev->dev);
> -	mutex_unlock(&call_mutex);
> +
> +	guard(rwsem_write)(&list_lock);
> +	list_del(&priv->list);
>  }
>  
>  static const struct wmi_device_id dell_smbios_wmi_id_table[] = {
>