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From: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>
To: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>,
	Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>,
	Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@kernel.org>,
	Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@google.com>
Cc: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>,
	linux-modules@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH 1/5] module/dups: Fix use-after-free in kmod_dup_req lifetime handling
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:15:26 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260720121621.750661-2-petr.pavlu@suse.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260720121621.750661-1-petr.pavlu@suse.com>

The kmod dups code uses RCU to ensure that a kmod_dup_req instance is freed
only after it is no longer referenced. When releasing an instance, the
kmod_dup_request_delete() function removes the kmod_dup_req from the
dup_kmod_reqs list, waits via synchronize_rcu() and finally frees it.
However, this doesn't work correctly because parallel users referencing the
instance in kmod_dup_request_exists_wait() don't enter an RCU read-side
critical section. This can result in a use-after-free.

The kmod_dup_request_exists_wait() function may need to hold a valid
reference to a kmod_dup_req instance across a blocking wait until the
corresponding modprobe command completes. This makes it unsuitable for RCU.

Fix the issue by changing the lifecycle management of kmod_dup_req to use
reference counting.

Fixes: 8660484ed1cf ("module: add debugging auto-load duplicate module support")
Signed-off-by: Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>
---
 kernel/module/dups.c | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/module/dups.c b/kernel/module/dups.c
index 1d720a5311ba..e1828e865edd 100644
--- a/kernel/module/dups.c
+++ b/kernel/module/dups.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <linux/ptrace.h>
 #include <linux/async.h>
 #include <linux/uaccess.h>
+#include <linux/refcount.h>
 
 #include "internal.h"
 
@@ -38,13 +39,12 @@
 static bool enable_dups_trace = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_MODULE_DEBUG_AUTOLOAD_DUPS_TRACE);
 module_param(enable_dups_trace, bool_enable_only, 0644);
 
-/*
- * Protects dup_kmod_reqs list, adds / removals with RCU.
- */
+/* A mutex-protected list of active kmod requests. */
 static DEFINE_MUTEX(kmod_dup_mutex);
 static LIST_HEAD(dup_kmod_reqs);
 
 struct kmod_dup_req {
+	refcount_t refcount;
 	struct list_head list;
 	char name[MODULE_NAME_LEN];
 	struct completion first_req_done;
@@ -53,12 +53,24 @@ struct kmod_dup_req {
 	int dup_ret;
 };
 
+static void get_kmod_req(struct kmod_dup_req *kmod_req)
+{
+	refcount_inc(&kmod_req->refcount);
+}
+
+static void put_kmod_req(struct kmod_dup_req *kmod_req)
+{
+	if (refcount_dec_and_test(&kmod_req->refcount))
+		kfree(kmod_req);
+}
+
 static struct kmod_dup_req *kmod_dup_request_lookup(char *module_name)
 {
 	struct kmod_dup_req *kmod_req;
 
-	list_for_each_entry_rcu(kmod_req, &dup_kmod_reqs, list,
-				lockdep_is_held(&kmod_dup_mutex)) {
+	lockdep_assert_held(&kmod_dup_mutex);
+
+	list_for_each_entry(kmod_req, &dup_kmod_reqs, list) {
 		if (strlen(kmod_req->name) == strlen(module_name) &&
 		    !memcmp(kmod_req->name, module_name, strlen(module_name))) {
 			return kmod_req;
@@ -87,10 +99,10 @@ static void kmod_dup_request_delete(struct work_struct *work)
 	 * just returning 0.
 	 */
 	mutex_lock(&kmod_dup_mutex);
-	list_del_rcu(&kmod_req->list);
-	synchronize_rcu();
+	list_del(&kmod_req->list);
 	mutex_unlock(&kmod_dup_mutex);
-	kfree(kmod_req);
+
+	put_kmod_req(kmod_req);
 }
 
 static void kmod_dup_request_complete(struct work_struct *work)
@@ -129,6 +141,7 @@ bool kmod_dup_request_exists_wait(char *module_name, bool wait, int *dup_ret)
 	if (!new_kmod_req)
 		return false;
 
+	refcount_set(&new_kmod_req->refcount, 1);
 	memcpy(new_kmod_req->name, module_name, strlen(module_name));
 	INIT_WORK(&new_kmod_req->complete_work, kmod_dup_request_complete);
 	INIT_DELAYED_WORK(&new_kmod_req->delete_work, kmod_dup_request_delete);
@@ -161,10 +174,12 @@ bool kmod_dup_request_exists_wait(char *module_name, bool wait, int *dup_ret)
 		 * keep tab on duplicates later.
 		 */
 		pr_debug("New request_module() for %s\n", module_name);
-		list_add_rcu(&new_kmod_req->list, &dup_kmod_reqs);
+		list_add(&new_kmod_req->list, &dup_kmod_reqs);
 		mutex_unlock(&kmod_dup_mutex);
 		return false;
 	}
+
+	get_kmod_req(kmod_req);
 	mutex_unlock(&kmod_dup_mutex);
 
 	/* We are dealing with a duplicate request now */
@@ -194,7 +209,7 @@ bool kmod_dup_request_exists_wait(char *module_name, bool wait, int *dup_ret)
 		 * calls bail out right away.
 		 */
 		*dup_ret = 0;
-		return true;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 	/*
@@ -209,12 +224,14 @@ bool kmod_dup_request_exists_wait(char *module_name, bool wait, int *dup_ret)
 					TASK_KILLABLE);
 	if (ret) {
 		*dup_ret = ret;
-		return true;
+		goto out;
 	}
 
 	/* Now the duplicate request has the same exact return value as the first request */
 	*dup_ret = kmod_req->dup_ret;
 
+out:
+	put_kmod_req(kmod_req);
 	return true;
 }
 
@@ -224,6 +241,10 @@ void kmod_dup_request_announce(char *module_name, int ret)
 
 	mutex_lock(&kmod_dup_mutex);
 
+	/*
+	 * Find the entry previously added in kmod_dup_request_exists_wait()
+	 * that is owned by the current task.
+	 */
 	kmod_req = kmod_dup_request_lookup(module_name);
 	if (!kmod_req)
 		goto out;
-- 
2.54.0


  reply	other threads:[~2026-07-20 12:16 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 12+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-20 12:15 [PATCH 0/5] module/dups: Fix a use-after-free and improve the code Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:15 ` Petr Pavlu [this message]
2026-07-20 12:32   ` [PATCH 1/5] module/dups: Fix use-after-free in kmod_dup_req lifetime handling sashiko-bot
2026-07-20 13:28     ` Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:15 ` [PATCH 2/5] module/dups: Inform duplicate requests about the result directly Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:28   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-20 12:15 ` [PATCH 3/5] module/dups: Use scoped guards for kmod_dup_mutex Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:25   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-20 13:28     ` Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:15 ` [PATCH 4/5] module/dups: Use strcmp() to compare module names Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:15 ` [PATCH 5/5] module/dups: Clean up includes Petr Pavlu
2026-07-20 12:32   ` sashiko-bot

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