In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ASoC: dapm: Fix UAF for snd_soc_pcm_runtime object When using kernel with the following extra config, - CONFIG_KASAN=y - CONFIG_KASAN_GENERIC=y - CONFIG_KASAN_INLINE=y - CONFIG_KASAN_VMALLOC=y - CONFIG_FRAME_WARN=4096 kernel detects that snd_pcm_suspend_all() access a freed 'snd_soc_pcm_runtime' object when the system is suspended, which leads to a use-after-free bug: [ 52.047746] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in snd_pcm_suspend_all+0x1a8/0x270 [ 52.047765] Read of size 1 at addr ffff0000b9434d50 by task systemd-sleep/2330 [ 52.047785] Call trace: [ 52.047787] dump_backtrace+0x0/0x3c0 [ 52.047794] show_stack+0x34/0x50 [ 52.047797] dump_stack_lvl+0x68/0x8c [ 52.047802] print_address_description.constprop.0+0x74/0x2c0 [ 52.047809] kasan_report+0x210/0x230 [ 52.047815] __asan_report_load1_noabort+0x3c/0x50 [ 52.047820] snd_pcm_suspend_all+0x1a8/0x270 [ 52.047824] snd_soc_suspend+0x19c/0x4e0 The snd_pcm_sync_stop() has a NULL check on 'substream->runtime' before making any access. So we need to always set 'substream->runtime' to NULL everytime we kfree() it.
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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.