CVE-2026-63803
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Use-After-Free in Linux Kernel HDLC PPP Protocol
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-63803, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-07-19
Last updated on: 2026-07-29
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
hdlc_ppp: sync per-proto timers before freeing hdlc state
Each PPP control protocol (LCP/IPCP/IPV6CP) embedded in struct ppp
registers a timer via timer_setup(). That struct ppp is the
hdlc->state allocation, which detach_hdlc_protocol() frees with kfree()
in both teardown paths: unregister_hdlc_device() and the re-attach inside
attach_hdlc_protocol().
The ppp proto never registered a .detach callback, so
detach_hdlc_protocol() performs no timer synchronization before the
kfree(). The only cancel, timer_delete(&proto->timer) in ppp_cp_event(),
is partial (it does not wait for a running callback) and only runs on the
->CLOSED transition; ppp_stop()/ppp_close() do not sync either. A
ppp_timer callback already executing (blocked on ppp->lock) survives the
kfree and then dereferences proto->state / ppp->lock in freed memory,
leading to a use-after-free.
Fix this by adding a .detach helper that calls timer_shutdown_sync() on
every per-proto timer. detach_hdlc_protocol() invokes proto->detach(dev)
before kfree(hdlc->state), so timer_shutdown_sync()
now runs on both free paths.
timer_shutdown_sync() is used instead of timer_delete_sync() because the
keepalive path re-arms the timer through add_timer()/mod_timer() and
shutdown blocks any re-activation during teardown.
Initialize the per-protocol timers in ppp_ioctl() when the protocol is
attached, and remove the now-redundant timer_setup() from ppp_start(), so
that the timers are initialized exactly once at attach time and
ppp_timer_release() never operates on uninitialized timer_list
structures. attach_hdlc_protocol() uses kmalloc() (not kzalloc), so
struct ppp's protos[i].timer is uninitialized garbage until the first
timer_setup(); without this init-at-attach, attaching the PPP protocol
without ever bringing the device up would leave timer_shutdown_sync()
operating on uninitialized memory in .detach. Moving the init out of
ppp_start() (which only runs on NETDEV_UP) into the attach path makes the
initialization unconditional and avoids initializing the same timer_list
twice.
This bug was found by static analysis.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 2.6.12 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 2.6.12 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 2.6.12 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 2.6.12 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 2.6.12 |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.16 (inc) to 6.1.177 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.2 (inc) to 6.6.144 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.7 (inc) to 6.12.95 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 5.11 (inc) to 5.15.211 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.13 (inc) to 6.18.38 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.19 (inc) to 7.1.3 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 2.6.12.1 (inc) to 5.10.261 (exc) |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-416 | 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. |
