From: Johan Hovold <johan@kernel.org>
To: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Juergen Stuber <starblue@users.sourceforge.net>,
Yue Sun <samsun1006219@gmail.com>,
linux-usb@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Johan Hovold <johan@kernel.org>,
stable@vger.kernel.org, Daniel Walker <dwalker@mvista.com>
Subject: [PATCH 4/4] USB: legousbtower: fix use-after-free on disconnect race
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2026 17:26:12 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260622152612.116422-5-johan@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260622152612.116422-1-johan@kernel.org>
mutex_unlock() may access the mutex structure after releasing the lock
and therefore cannot be used to manage lifetime of objects directly
(unlike spinlocks and refcounts). [1][2]
Use a kref to release the driver data to avoid use-after-free in
mutex_unlock() when release() races with disconnect().
[1] a51749ab34d9 ("locking/mutex: Document that mutex_unlock() is
non-atomic")
[2] 2b9d9e0a9ba0 ("locking/mutex: Clarify that mutex_unlock(), and most
other sleeping locks, can still use the lock object
after it's unlocked")
Fixes: 18bcbcfe9ca2 ("USB: misc: legousbtower: semaphore to mutex")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # 2.6.25
Cc: Daniel Walker <dwalker@mvista.com>
Signed-off-by: Johan Hovold <johan@kernel.org>
---
drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++----------------
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)
diff --git a/drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c b/drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c
index 052ffc2e71ee..18dd4115befb 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ MODULE_DEVICE_TABLE(usb, tower_table);
/* Structure to hold all of our device specific stuff */
struct lego_usb_tower {
+ struct kref kref;
struct mutex lock; /* locks this structure */
struct usb_device *udev; /* save off the usb device pointer */
unsigned char minor; /* the starting minor number for this device */
@@ -220,7 +221,6 @@ struct lego_usb_tower {
/* local function prototypes */
static ssize_t tower_read(struct file *file, char __user *buffer, size_t count, loff_t *ppos);
static ssize_t tower_write(struct file *file, const char __user *buffer, size_t count, loff_t *ppos);
-static inline void tower_delete(struct lego_usb_tower *dev);
static int tower_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file);
static int tower_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file);
static __poll_t tower_poll(struct file *file, poll_table *wait);
@@ -286,8 +286,10 @@ static inline void lego_usb_tower_debug_data(struct device *dev,
/*
* tower_delete
*/
-static inline void tower_delete(struct lego_usb_tower *dev)
+static inline void tower_delete(struct kref *kref)
{
+ struct lego_usb_tower *dev = container_of(kref, struct lego_usb_tower, kref);
+
/* free data structures */
usb_free_urb(dev->interrupt_in_urb);
usb_free_urb(dev->interrupt_out_urb);
@@ -381,6 +383,8 @@ static int tower_open(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
dev->open_count = 1;
+ kref_get(&dev->kref);
+
unlock_exit:
mutex_unlock(&dev->lock);
@@ -404,14 +408,8 @@ static int tower_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
mutex_lock(&dev->lock);
- if (dev->disconnected) {
- /* the device was unplugged before the file was released */
-
- /* unlock here as tower_delete frees dev */
- mutex_unlock(&dev->lock);
- tower_delete(dev);
- goto exit;
- }
+ if (dev->disconnected)
+ goto out_unlock;
/* wait until write transfer is finished */
if (dev->interrupt_out_busy) {
@@ -425,7 +423,9 @@ static int tower_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
dev->open_count = 0;
+out_unlock:
mutex_unlock(&dev->lock);
+ kref_put(&dev->kref, tower_delete);
exit:
return retval;
}
@@ -752,6 +752,7 @@ static int tower_probe(struct usb_interface *interface, const struct usb_device_
if (!dev)
goto exit;
+ kref_init(&dev->kref);
mutex_init(&dev->lock);
dev->udev = usb_get_dev(udev);
spin_lock_init(&dev->read_buffer_lock);
@@ -828,7 +829,7 @@ static int tower_probe(struct usb_interface *interface, const struct usb_device_
return retval;
error:
- tower_delete(dev);
+ kref_put(&dev->kref, tower_delete);
return retval;
}
@@ -856,18 +857,18 @@ static void tower_disconnect(struct usb_interface *interface)
mutex_lock(&dev->lock);
- /* if the device is not opened, then we clean up right now */
- if (!dev->open_count) {
- mutex_unlock(&dev->lock);
- tower_delete(dev);
- } else {
- dev->disconnected = 1;
+ dev->disconnected = 1;
+
+ if (dev->open_count) {
/* wake up pollers */
wake_up_interruptible_all(&dev->read_wait);
wake_up_interruptible_all(&dev->write_wait);
- mutex_unlock(&dev->lock);
}
+ mutex_unlock(&dev->lock);
+
+ kref_put(&dev->kref, tower_delete);
+
dev_info(&interface->dev, "LEGO USB Tower #%d now disconnected\n",
(minor - LEGO_USB_TOWER_MINOR_BASE));
}
--
2.53.0
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-06-22 15:27 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-22 15:26 [PATCH 0/4] USB: fix use-after-free on disconnect race Johan Hovold
2026-06-22 15:26 ` [PATCH 1/4] USB: iowarrior: " Johan Hovold
2026-06-22 15:26 ` [PATCH 2/4] USB: idmouse: " Johan Hovold
2026-06-22 15:26 ` [PATCH 3/4] USB: ldusb: " Johan Hovold
2026-06-22 15:26 ` Johan Hovold [this message]
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260622152612.116422-5-johan@kernel.org \
--to=johan@kernel.org \
--cc=dwalker@mvista.com \
--cc=gregkh@linuxfoundation.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-usb@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=samsun1006219@gmail.com \
--cc=stable@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=starblue@users.sourceforge.net \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.