Refcount Leak in Apple's AIC IRQ Chip in Linux Kernel

CVE-2022-49717

Summary

In the Linux kernel, a vulnerability was identified in the Apple AIC IRQ chip related to an improper management of reference counts. Specifically, the function 'of_find_node_by_phandle()' was returning a node pointer with an incremented refcount, but the necessary 'of_node_put()' call was missing after its use. This oversight could lead to a refcount leak, potentially affecting the memory management and stability of the system. The issue has since been addressed by adding the missing function call, ensuring proper reference counting and enhanced stability.

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