ALSA: pcm: Fix potential AB/BA lock with buffer_mutex and mmap_lock
syzbot caught a potential deadlock between the PCM
runtime->buffer_mutex and the mm->mmap_lock. It was brought by the
recent fix to cover the racy read/write and other ioctls, and in that
commit, I overlooked a (hopefully only) corner case that may take the
revert lock, namely, the OSS mmap. The OSS mmap operation
exceptionally allows to re-configure the parameters inside the OSS
mmap syscall, where mm->mmap_mutex is already held. Meanwhile, the
copy_from/to_user calls at read/write operations also take the
mm->mmap_lock internally, hence it may lead to a AB/BA deadlock.
A similar problem was already seen in the past and we fixed it with a
refcount (in commit b248371628aa). The former fix covered only the
call paths with OSS read/write and OSS ioctls, while we need to cover
the concurrent access via both ALSA and OSS APIs now.
This patch addresses the problem above by replacing the buffer_mutex
lock in the read/write operations with a refcount similar as we've
used for OSS. The new field, runtime->buffer_accessing, keeps the
number of concurrent read/write operations. Unlike the former
buffer_mutex protection, this protects only around the
copy_from/to_user() calls; the other codes are basically protected by
the PCM stream lock. The refcount can be a negative, meaning blocked
by the ioctls. If a negative value is seen, the read/write aborts
with -EBUSY. In the ioctl side, OTOH, they check this refcount, too,
and set to a negative value for blocking unless it's already being
accessed.
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Tracking
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| Source | ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
EUVD |
EUVD-2022-54954 | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: pcm: Fix potential AB/BA lock with buffer_mutex and mmap_lock syzbot caught a potential deadlock between the PCM runtime->buffer_mutex and the mm->mmap_lock. It was brought by the recent fix to cover the racy read/write and other ioctls, and in that commit, I overlooked a (hopefully only) corner case that may take the revert lock, namely, the OSS mmap. The OSS mmap operation exceptionally allows to re-configure the parameters inside the OSS mmap syscall, where mm->mmap_mutex is already held. Meanwhile, the copy_from/to_user calls at read/write operations also take the mm->mmap_lock internally, hence it may lead to a AB/BA deadlock. A similar problem was already seen in the past and we fixed it with a refcount (in commit b248371628aa). The former fix covered only the call paths with OSS read/write and OSS ioctls, while we need to cover the concurrent access via both ALSA and OSS APIs now. This patch addresses the problem above by replacing the buffer_mutex lock in the read/write operations with a refcount similar as we've used for OSS. The new field, runtime->buffer_accessing, keeps the number of concurrent read/write operations. Unlike the former buffer_mutex protection, this protects only around the copy_from/to_user() calls; the other codes are basically protected by the PCM stream lock. The refcount can be a negative, meaning blocked by the ioctls. If a negative value is seen, the read/write aborts with -EBUSY. In the ioctl side, OTOH, they check this refcount, too, and set to a negative value for blocking unless it's already being accessed. |
Mon, 11 May 2026 19:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
Mon, 22 Sep 2025 20:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| Weaknesses | CWE-667 | |
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.10.109:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15.32:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16.18:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.17.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
|
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
Sat, 10 May 2025 03:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| First Time appeared |
Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux |
|
| CPEs | cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9 cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8 cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9 |
|
| Vendors & Products |
Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux |
Thu, 27 Feb 2025 01:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| References |
| |
| Metrics |
threat_severity
|
cvssV3_1
|
Wed, 26 Feb 2025 02:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ALSA: pcm: Fix potential AB/BA lock with buffer_mutex and mmap_lock syzbot caught a potential deadlock between the PCM runtime->buffer_mutex and the mm->mmap_lock. It was brought by the recent fix to cover the racy read/write and other ioctls, and in that commit, I overlooked a (hopefully only) corner case that may take the revert lock, namely, the OSS mmap. The OSS mmap operation exceptionally allows to re-configure the parameters inside the OSS mmap syscall, where mm->mmap_mutex is already held. Meanwhile, the copy_from/to_user calls at read/write operations also take the mm->mmap_lock internally, hence it may lead to a AB/BA deadlock. A similar problem was already seen in the past and we fixed it with a refcount (in commit b248371628aa). The former fix covered only the call paths with OSS read/write and OSS ioctls, while we need to cover the concurrent access via both ALSA and OSS APIs now. This patch addresses the problem above by replacing the buffer_mutex lock in the read/write operations with a refcount similar as we've used for OSS. The new field, runtime->buffer_accessing, keeps the number of concurrent read/write operations. Unlike the former buffer_mutex protection, this protects only around the copy_from/to_user() calls; the other codes are basically protected by the PCM stream lock. The refcount can be a negative, meaning blocked by the ioctls. If a negative value is seen, the read/write aborts with -EBUSY. In the ioctl side, OTOH, they check this refcount, too, and set to a negative value for blocking unless it's already being accessed. | |
| Title | ALSA: pcm: Fix potential AB/BA lock with buffer_mutex and mmap_lock | |
| References |
|
|
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-05-11T18:56:29.104Z
Reserved: 2025-02-26T01:49:39.297Z
Link: CVE-2022-49272
No data.
Status : Analyzed
Published: 2025-02-26T07:01:04.097
Modified: 2025-09-22T20:32:39.203
Link: CVE-2022-49272
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
EUVD