In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: pm80xx: Set phy->enable_completion only when we wait for it pm8001_phy_control() populates the enable_completion pointer with a stack address, sends a PHY_LINK_RESET / PHY_HARD_RESET, waits 300 ms, and returns. The problem arises when a phy control response comes late. After 300 ms the pm8001_phy_control() function returns and the passed enable_completion stack address is no longer valid. Late phy control response invokes complete() on a dangling enable_completion pointer which leads to a kernel crash.
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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.