Use After Free in Linux Kernel

CVE-2020-10690

There is a use-after-free in kernel versions before 5.5 due to a race condition between the release of ptp_clock and cdev while resource deallocation. When a (high privileged) process allocates a ptp device file (like /dev/ptpX) and voluntarily goes to sleep. During this time if the underlying device is removed, it can cause an exploitable condition as the process wakes up to terminate and clean all attached files. The system crashes due to the cdev structure being invalid (as already freed) which is pointed to by the inode.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

EPSS: 0.004 (29.4th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-10690?
CVE-2020-10690 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2020-05-08.
How severe is CVE-2020-10690?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-10690 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.