On Fri, 27 Jun 2025, Qasim Ijaz wrote:

In appletb_kbd_probe an input handler is initialised and then registered
with input core through input_register_handler(). When this happens input
core will add the input handler (specifically its node) to the global
input_handler_list. The input_handler_list is central to the functionality
of input core and is traversed in various places in input core. An example
of this is when a new input device is plugged in and gets registered with
input core.

The input_handler in probe is allocated as device managed memory. If a
probe failure occurs after input_register_handler() the input_handler
memory is freed, yet it will remain in the input_handler_list. This
effectively means the input_handler_list contains a dangling pointer
to data belonging to a freed input handler.

This causes an issue when any other input device is plugged in - in my
case I had an old PixArt HP USB optical mouse and I decided to
plug it in after a failure occurred after input_register_handler().
This lead to the registration of this input device via
input_register_device which involves traversing over every handler
in the corrupted input_handler_list and calling input_attach_handler(),
giving each handler a chance to bind to newly registered device.

The core of this bug is a UAF which causes memory corruption of
input_handler_list and to fix it we must ensure the input handler is
unregistered from input core, this is done through
input_unregister_handler().

Applied to hid.git#for-6.16/upstream-fixes, thanks!

-- 
Jiri Kosina
SUSE Labs