{"cve":"CVE-2026-63803","nvd":{"published":"2026-07-19T12:16:52.980","modified":"2026-10-19T20:19:20.867","status":"Modified","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nhdlc_ppp: sync per-proto timers before freeing hdlc state\n\nEach PPP control protocol (LCP/IPCP/IPV6CP) embedded in struct ppp\nregisters a timer via timer_setup(). That struct ppp is the\nhdlc->state allocation, which detach_hdlc_protocol() frees with kfree()\nin both teardown paths: unregister_hdlc_device() and the re-attach inside\nattach_hdlc_protocol().\n\nThe ppp proto never registered a .detach callback, so\ndetach_hdlc_protocol() performs no timer synchronization before the\nkfree(). The only cancel, timer_delete(&proto->timer) in ppp_cp_event(),\nis partial (it does not wait for a running callback) and only runs on the\n->CLOSED transition; ppp_stop()/ppp_close() do not sync either. A\nppp_timer callback already executing (blocked on ppp->lock) survives the\nkfree and then dereferences proto->state / ppp->lock in freed memory,\nleading to a use-after-free.\n\nFix this by adding a .detach helper that calls timer_shutdown_sync() on\nevery per-proto timer. detach_hdlc_protocol() invokes proto->detach(dev)\nbefore kfree(hdlc->state), so timer_shutdown_sync()\nnow runs on both free paths.\ntimer_shutdown_sync() is used instead of timer_delete_sync() because the\nkeepalive path re-arms the timer through add_timer()/mod_timer() and\nshutdown blocks any re-activation during teardown.\n\nInitialize the per-protocol timers in ppp_ioctl() when the protocol is\nattached, and remove the now-redundant timer_setup() from ppp_start(), so\nthat the timers are initialized exactly once at attach time and\nppp_timer_release() never operates on uninitialized timer_list\nstructures. attach_hdlc_protocol() uses kmalloc() (not kzalloc), so\nstruct ppp's protos[i].timer is uninitialized garbage until the first\ntimer_setup(); without this init-at-attach, attaching the PPP protocol\nwithout ever bringing the device up would leave timer_shutdown_sync()\noperating on uninitialized memory in .detach. Moving the init out of\nppp_start() (which only runs on NETDEV_UP) into the attach path makes the\ninitialization unconditional and avoids initializing the same timer_list\ntwice.\n\nThis bug was found by static analysis.","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":7.8},"cwes":["CWE-416"],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/508a0139d3bf60f6a03d2fbfb63a89a9463d983a","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a84398101bf9f11e84b176343e4e3ba83e668c0","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8308122bc9c065b1f376e081ed300129a2ac9545","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/86d80a231bde4cfb64bfbfbfffd83056fc93628f","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a594debfd4e7ec39413647458907f689ef57fd2f"],"products":["linux:linux_kernel"],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-21T03:43:09.190223697+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2026-63803","score":0.00133,"percentile":0.02802,"date":"2026-10-25"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}