In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: peci: cpu: Fix use-after-free in adev_release() When auxiliary_device_add() returns an error, auxiliary_device_uninit() is called, which causes refcount for device to be decremented and .release callback will be triggered. Because adev_release() re-calls auxiliary_device_uninit(), it will cause use-after-free: [ 1269.455172] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 14267 at lib/refcount.c:28 refcount_warn_saturate+0x110/0x15 [ 1269.464007] refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.