In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: lpspi: Avoid potential use-after-free in probe() fsl_lpspi_probe() is allocating/disposing memory manually with spi_alloc_host()/spi_alloc_target(), but uses devm_spi_register_controller(). In case of error after the latter call the memory will be explicitly freed in the probe function by spi_controller_put() call, but used afterwards by "devm" management outside probe() (spi_unregister_controller() <- devm_spi_unregister() below). Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000070 ... Call trace: kernfs_find_ns kernfs_find_and_get_ns sysfs_remove_group sysfs_remove_groups device_remove_attrs device_del spi_unregister_controller devm_spi_unregister release_nodes devres_release_all really_probe driver_probe_device __device_attach_driver bus_for_each_drv __device_attach device_initial_probe bus_probe_device deferred_probe_work_func process_one_work worker_thread kthread ret_from_fork
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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.