In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: avoid NULL checkpoint thread access in sysfs checkpoint_merge can be enabled even when no checkpoint merge thread is running

Overview

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

f2fs: avoid NULL checkpoint thread access in sysfs

checkpoint_merge can be enabled even when no checkpoint merge thread is running. A read-only mount is one case: f2fs does not start f2fs_issue_ckpt there, but ckpt_thread_ioprio is still writable through sysfs.

The ckpt_thread_ioprio store path updates the saved ioprio value and, when checkpoint_merge is enabled, calls set_task_ioprio() for the checkpoint thread. If cprc->f2fs_issue_ckpt is NULL, that dereferences a NULL task pointer.

Protect ckpt_thread_ioprio sysfs writes with s_umount as well, so the checkpoint thread cannot disappear under the store path while updating its ioprio.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.