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How the CVE Works:
The vulnerability is a Use-After-Free (UaF) within the kernel-mode drivers for Arm’s Valhall and 5th Gen GPU architectures. It occurs when the driver manages GPU memory objects. A local user process can issue a sequence of specific GPU operations that cause the driver to incorrectly handle the lifecycle of a memory buffer. The driver frees a memory object but fails to properly invalidate its internal pointers. Subsequent driver operations, when processing further commands from the malicious process, can then access the already-freed memory location (the “dangling pointer”). This corrupts kernel memory, allowing for data disclosure, kernel panic, or as a critical step in crafting a local privilege escalation exploit chain to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.
DailyCVE Form:
Platform: Arm GPU Driver
Version: r53p0-r54p1
Vulnerability: Use After Free
Severity: Critical
Date: 2025-12-01
Prediction: 2025-12-15
What Undercode Say:
Analytics:
Check loaded kernel modules lsmod | grep -i mali Driver logs may show corruption dmesg | tail -50 Check for kernel version and patches uname -r
// Pseudocode illustrating UaF concept kernel_pointer = allocate_gpu_memory(); issue_gpu_command_free(kernel_pointer); // Freed but reference kept ... issue_gpu_command_use(kernel_pointer); // Uses dangling pointer
How Exploit:
1. Attacker opens GPU device file (/dev/mali0, /dev/kgsl-3d0).
- Crafts IOCTL calls to allocate and map GPU buffer.
- Issues commands to trigger early buffer free, leaving dangling pointer.
- Sprays kernel heap to control freed memory region.
- Triggers use of dangling pointer via another GPU command.
- Crafts payload to overwrite kernel structures, gaining root.
Protection from this CVE:
Apply vendor patch.
Restrict GPU device access.
Use kernel hardening (e.g., slab hardening).
Monitor system logs.
Impact:
Local Privilege Escalation.
Kernel Memory Corruption.
System Crash (DoS).
Full Device Compromise.
🎯Let’s Practice Exploiting & Learn Patching For Free:
Sources:
Reported By: nvd.nist.gov
Extra Source Hub:
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