From: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
To: netdev@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@shopee.com>,
syzbot+1ec2f6a450f0b54af8c8@syzkaller.appspotmail.com,
Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>,
"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>,
Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>, Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>,
Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>,
Marco Crivellari <marco.crivellari@suse.com>,
Stanislav Fomichev <sdf@fomichev.me>,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH net v2] linkwatch: use __dev_put() in callers to prevent UAF
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2026 22:14:50 +0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260130141455.63201-1-jiayuan.chen@linux.dev> (raw)
From: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@shopee.com>
After linkwatch_do_dev() calls __dev_put() to release the linkwatch
reference, the device refcount may drop to 1. At this point,
netdev_run_todo() can proceed (since linkwatch_sync_dev() sees an
empty list and returns without blocking), wait for the refcount to
become 1 via netdev_wait_allrefs_any(), and then free the device
via kobject_put().
This creates a use-after-free when __linkwatch_run_queue() tries to
call netdev_unlock_ops() on the already-freed device.
Note that adding netdev_lock_ops()/netdev_unlock_ops() pair in
netdev_run_todo() before kobject_put() would not work, because
netdev_lock_ops() is conditional - it only locks when
netdev_need_ops_lock() returns true. If the device doesn't require
ops_lock, linkwatch won't hold any lock, and netdev_run_todo()
acquiring the lock won't provide synchronization.
Fix this by moving __dev_put() from linkwatch_do_dev() to its
callers. The device reference logically pairs with de-listing the
device, so it's reasonable for the caller that did the de-listing
to release it. This allows placing __dev_put() after all device
accesses are complete, preventing UAF.
The bug can be reproduced by adding mdelay(2000) after
linkwatch_do_dev() in __linkwatch_run_queue(), then running:
ip tuntap add mode tun name tun_test
ip link set tun_test up
ip link set tun_test carrier off
ip link set tun_test carrier on
sleep 0.5
ip tuntap del mode tun name tun_test
KASAN report:
==================================================================
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in netdev_need_ops_lock include/net/netdev_lock.h:33 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in netdev_unlock_ops include/net/netdev_lock.h:47 [inline]
BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in __linkwatch_run_queue+0x865/0x8a0 net/core/link_watch.c:245
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88804de5c008 by task kworker/u32:10/8123
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 8123 Comm: kworker/u32:10 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
Workqueue: events_unbound linkwatch_event
Call Trace:
<TASK>
__dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline]
dump_stack_lvl+0x100/0x190 lib/dump_stack.c:120
print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline]
print_report+0x156/0x4c9 mm/kasan/report.c:482
kasan_report+0xdf/0x1a0 mm/kasan/report.c:595
netdev_need_ops_lock include/net/netdev_lock.h:33 [inline]
netdev_unlock_ops include/net/netdev_lock.h:47 [inline]
__linkwatch_run_queue+0x865/0x8a0 net/core/link_watch.c:245
linkwatch_event+0x8f/0xc0 net/core/link_watch.c:304
process_one_work+0x9c2/0x1840 kernel/workqueue.c:3257
process_scheduled_works kernel/workqueue.c:3340 [inline]
worker_thread+0x5da/0xe40 kernel/workqueue.c:3421
kthread+0x3b3/0x730 kernel/kthread.c:463
ret_from_fork+0x754/0xaf0 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:246
</TASK>
==================================================================
Fixes: 04efcee6ef8d ("net: hold instance lock during NETDEV_CHANGE")
Reported-by: syzbot+1ec2f6a450f0b54af8c8@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/6824d064.a70a0220.3e9d8.001a.GAE@google.com/T/
Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@shopee.com>
Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@linux.dev>
---
net/core/link_watch.c | 10 +++++-----
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/core/link_watch.c b/net/core/link_watch.c
index 212cde35affa..5196f8ea43f1 100644
--- a/net/core/link_watch.c
+++ b/net/core/link_watch.c
@@ -185,10 +185,6 @@ static void linkwatch_do_dev(struct net_device *dev)
netif_state_change(dev);
}
- /* Note: our callers are responsible for calling netdev_tracker_free().
- * This is the reason we use __dev_put() instead of dev_put().
- */
- __dev_put(dev);
}
static void __linkwatch_run_queue(int urgent_only)
@@ -243,6 +239,7 @@ static void __linkwatch_run_queue(int urgent_only)
netdev_lock_ops(dev);
linkwatch_do_dev(dev);
netdev_unlock_ops(dev);
+ __dev_put(dev);
do_dev--;
spin_lock_irq(&lweventlist_lock);
}
@@ -278,8 +275,10 @@ void __linkwatch_sync_dev(struct net_device *dev)
{
netdev_ops_assert_locked(dev);
- if (linkwatch_clean_dev(dev))
+ if (linkwatch_clean_dev(dev)) {
linkwatch_do_dev(dev);
+ __dev_put(dev);
+ }
}
void linkwatch_sync_dev(struct net_device *dev)
@@ -288,6 +287,7 @@ void linkwatch_sync_dev(struct net_device *dev)
netdev_lock_ops(dev);
linkwatch_do_dev(dev);
netdev_unlock_ops(dev);
+ __dev_put(dev);
}
}
--
2.43.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-01-30 14:15 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 2+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-01-30 14:14 Jiayuan Chen [this message]
2026-01-30 14:37 ` [PATCH net v2] linkwatch: use __dev_put() in callers to prevent UAF Eric Dumazet
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