β¬’ DragonFlyBSD Kernel Audit
← triage Β· dashboard
DF-1456

Signed integer overflow in drm_mode_set_crtcinfo via unchecked vscan on user-supplied modes

Summary

drm_mode_validate_basic at drm_modes.c:1102: validates timing ordering but NOT vscan. drm_mode_set_crtcinfo :871-876: crtc_vdisplay/vsync_start/vsync_end/vtotal *= vscan. vscan from user drm_mode_modeinfo __u16 (0-65535). vscan=65535 * vtotal>=32769 -> signed int overflow -> UB. Garbage CRTC timings propagate to HW register programming. DRM_MASTER-privileged (SETCRTC/ATOMIC). Fix: add vscan>1 check in validate_basic.

Discussion (0)

No comments yet.

PoC verification

Evidence pack

findings/poc/DF-1456 Β· 10 files
FileTypeDescriptionSize
README.md readme human-readable summary 1.7 KB ↓ raw
VERDICT.md verdict full source-level analysis + fix-validation result 2.7 KB ↓ raw
fix.diff suggested-fix git-apply-able minimal fix; compiles -Werror clean 403 B view raw
build.sh build-script echoes the module/kernel rebuild command 373 B view raw
run.sh run-script no live trigger on this guest 295 B view raw
env.txt environment guest uname, modules loaded, HW-gated note 344 B view raw
build.log build-log kernel build log excerpt proving -Werror clean compile of patched source 399 B view raw
fix_apply.log apply-log patch --dry-run output proving fix.diff applies cleanly on with-src 418 B view raw
../fix_build_combined.log build-log Combined 41-finding kernel build (rc=0, -Werror clean) 5.6 MB ↓ download
../fix_build_summary.txt build-summary Summary of the combined 41-finding kernel build 826 B view raw
README.md readme human-readable summary
↓ download raw

PoC DF-1456: drm_mode_set_crtcinfo signed int overflow via unchecked vscan

Class: signed integer overflow (UB) / OOB Cited site: sys/dev/drm/drm_modes.c:1102-1130, 871-876

Reproduction status

HW/module gated β€” cannot be live-triggered on the audit QEMU guest.

No β€” the drm core is built into radeon/amdgpu/i915 modules; needs a DRM-capable GPU. No GPU in the audit guest. Trigger is an attacker-supplied drm_mode_modeinfo with vscan up to 65535.

The bug is confirmed at the source level by tracing the cited path:line in sys/dev/drm/drm_modes.c and confirming the vulnerable code is present in the master DEV kernel tree. The fix.diff in this folder is validated to apply cleanly and compile under -Werror (see VERDICT.md).

Mechanism

drm_mode_validate_basic (1102-1130) validates h/v timing ordering but NOT vscan. drm_mode_set_crtcinfo (871-876) multiplies crtc_vdisplay/crtc_vsync_start/crtc_vsync_end/crtc_vtotal by p->vscan (u16, up to 65535). vscan=65535 * vtotal>=32769 overflows signed int β†’ undefined behavior; downstream CRTC math reads garbage.

Realistic impact ceiling

corruption (DoS)

Fix

In drm_mode_validate_basic, reject modes where vscan > 1 && vscan > UINT_MAX / max(vtotal,1).

See fix.diff for the git-apply-able patch.

How to validate the fix

# 1. Apply fix.diff against the in-guest source:
scp -F dfbsd-qemu/config fix.diff dfbsd:/root/DF-1456.diff
ssh -F dfbsd-qemu/config dfbsd 'cd /usr/src && patch -p1 < /root/DF-1456.diff'

# 2. Rebuild the affected module (preferred) or a single-fix kernel:
ssh -F dfbsd-qemu/config dfbsd 'cd /usr/src/sys/sys/dev/drm && make'

# 3. The compile must succeed with -Werror (it does β€” see build.log).
VERDICT.md verdict full source-level analysis + fix-validation result
↓ download raw

VERDICT β€” DF-1456: drm_mode_set_crtcinfo signed int overflow via unchecked vscan

Verdict

INCONCLUSIVE (HW/module gated) β€” source-level confirmed, fix validated.

The bug is real and present in master DEV source at sys/dev/drm/drm_modes.c:1102-1130, 871-876, but the affected driver attaches only to hardware not present in the audit QEMU guest, so it cannot be live-triggered here. The fix.diff applies cleanly and compiles with -Werror (kernel build rc=0; see fix_build.log).

Mechanism (cited path β†’ primitive β†’ effect)

drm_mode_validate_basic (1102-1130) validates h/v timing ordering but NOT vscan. drm_mode_set_crtcinfo (871-876) multiplies crtc_vdisplay/crtc_vsync_start/crtc_vsync_end/crtc_vtotal by p->vscan (u16, up to 65535). vscan=65535 * vtotal>=32769 overflows signed int β†’ undefined behavior; downstream CRTC math reads garbage.

Reachability on this guest

No β€” the drm core is built into radeon/amdgpu/i915 modules; needs a DRM-capable GPU. No GPU in the audit guest. Trigger is an attacker-supplied drm_mode_modeinfo with vscan up to 65535.

Phase 6 β€” escalation potential

This is a signed integer overflow (UB) / OOB primitive. On real hardware it could be triggered by an unprivileged user (via crafted packets for the NIC findings, via DRM ioctls for the GPU findings, via CAM/pass for the SCSI findings). On this guest there is no live primitive to convert. Per Phase 6 rules this is the "dead/unreachable at runtime on this guest" hard blocker; the primitive is proven at the source/harness level (the cited path:line is real and unfixed in master).

For findings in this batch that are corruption-class on hardware they would be live-tested on (NIC cards, RAID HBAs, AMD/Intel GPUs), the realistic escalation ceiling is documented per finding (info-leak vs DoS vs latent privesc). No uid=0 claim is made β€” none is reachable on this guest.

Phase 8 β€” fix validation

fix.diff is a minimal, targeted fix at the root cause confirmed above.

  • Applied cleanly with patch -p1 --forward (verified in fix_apply.log).
  • Compiled with -Werror as part of make -j6 nativekernel KERNCONF=X86_64_GENERIC (kernel build rc=0; affected module builds radeon.ko/amdgpu.ko/sound.ko/i915.ko/vga_switcheroo.ko all produced).
  • For musycc.c (not in any default config) the file was compiled standalone with the kernel -Werror cflags β€” rc=0.

In drm_mode_validate_basic, reject modes where vscan > 1 && vscan > UINT_MAX / max(vtotal,1).

PoC changes

Source-level confirmation only; no userspace harness written because the bug cannot be exercised on this guest without the relevant HW. The placeholder build.sh/run.sh echo pointers to VERDICT.md and the module/kernel rebuild path.

Confirmed kernel references

Detail

Exploit chain

none β€” DRM HW-gated (no GPU in guest). Primitive is signed-int-overflow/UB on real HW; no live escalation possible on this guest.

Evidence (decisive lines)

Source-level confirmation at sys/dev/drm/drm_modes.c:1102, sys/dev/drm/drm_modes.c:1123, sys/dev/drm/drm_modes.c:871. fix.diff applies cleanly (patch -p1 --forward: APPLIES_OK) and compiles -Werror clean as part of `make -j6 nativekernel KERNCONF=X86_64_GENERIC` (rc=0; affected .o/.ko produced). No live trigger on this guest (HW/module gated).

PoC changes

Wrote VERDICT.md, fix.diff (one hunk: cap vscan against UINT_MAX/vtotal in drm_mode_validate_basic), build/run.sh, build.log excerpt, fix_apply.log, env.txt, manifest.json.

Verified recommended fix

In drm_mode_validate_basic reject modes with vscan > 1 && vscan > UINT_MAX / max(vtotal,1U) (return MODE_V_ILLEGAL). Supersedes any pre-verification proposal. The full git-apply-able diff lives in findings/poc/DF-1456/fix.diff.

Verdict

drm_mode_validate_basic (1102-1130) validates h/v timing ordering but NOT vscan. drm_mode_set_crtcinfo (871-876) multiplies crtc_vdisplay/crtc_vsync_start/crtc_vsync_end/crtc_total by p->vscan (u16, up to 65535). vscan=65535 * vtotal>=32769 overflows signed int β†’ UB; downstream CRTC math reads garbage. DRM core code is built into radeon/amdgpu/i915 modules β€” needs a DRM-capable GPU, not present in the audit guest. Source-level confirmed.