Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fbcon: Fix a NULL pointer dereference issue in fbcon_putcs

syzbot has found a NULL pointer dereference bug in fbcon.
Here is the simplified C reproducer:

struct param {
uint8_t type;
struct tiocl_selection ts;
};

int main()
{
struct fb_con2fbmap con2fb;
struct param param;

int fd = open("/dev/fb1", 0, 0);

con2fb.console = 0x19;
con2fb.framebuffer = 0;
ioctl(fd, FBIOPUT_CON2FBMAP, &con2fb);

param.type = 2;
param.ts.xs = 0; param.ts.ys = 0;
param.ts.xe = 0; param.ts.ye = 0;
param.ts.sel_mode = 0;

int fd1 = open("/dev/tty1", O_RDWR, 0);
ioctl(fd1, TIOCLINUX, ¶m);

con2fb.console = 1;
con2fb.framebuffer = 0;
ioctl(fd, FBIOPUT_CON2FBMAP, &con2fb);

return 0;
}

After calling ioctl(fd1, TIOCLINUX, ¶m), the subsequent ioctl(fd, FBIOPUT_CON2FBMAP, &con2fb)
causes the kernel to follow a different execution path:

set_con2fb_map
-> con2fb_init_display
-> fbcon_set_disp
-> redraw_screen
-> hide_cursor
-> clear_selection
-> highlight
-> invert_screen
-> do_update_region
-> fbcon_putcs
-> ops->putcs

Since ops->putcs is a NULL pointer, this leads to a kernel panic.
To prevent this, we need to call set_blitting_type() within set_con2fb_map()
to properly initialize ops->putcs.

Classification

CVE ID: CVE-2024-50048

Affected Products

Vendor: Linux

Product: Linux

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

EPSS Score: 0.03% (probability of being exploited)

EPSS Percentile: 7.94% (scored less or equal to compared to others)

EPSS Date: 2025-05-06 (when was this score calculated)

Stakeholder-Specific Vulnerability Categorization (SSVC)

SSVC Exploitation: none

SSVC Technical Impact: partial

SSVC Automatable: false

References

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-50048
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8266ae6eafdcd5a3136592445ff4038bbc7ee80e
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7fb5dda555344529ce584ff7a28b109528d2f1b
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e5c2dba62996a3a6eeb34bd248b90fc69c5a6a1b
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b97eebcce1b4f3f07a71f635d6aa3af96c236e7

Timeline