[PATCH 6.1 55/69] tipc: use kfree_sensitive() for session key material

Greg Kroah-Hartman
2026-02-09T14:44:26Z

From: Daniel Hodges <hodgesd@meta.com>

[ Upstream commit 74d9391e8849e70ded5309222d09b0ed0edbd039 ]

The rx->skey field contains a struct tipc_aead_key with GCM-AES
encryption keys used for TIPC cluster communication. Using plain
kfree() leaves this sensitive key material in freed memory pages
where it could potentially be recovered.

Switch to kfree_sensitive() to ensure the key material is zeroed
before the memory is freed.

Fixes: 1ef6f7c9390f ("tipc: add automatic session key exchange")
Signed-off-by: Daniel Hodges <hodgesd@meta.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260131180114.2121438-1-hodgesd@meta.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
net/tipc/crypto.c | 4 ++--
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/tipc/crypto.c b/net/tipc/crypto.c
index d52829c6aa472..0e84d86f75fe4 100644
--- a/net/tipc/crypto.c
+++ b/net/tipc/crypto.c
@@ -1219,7 +1219,7 @@ void tipc_crypto_key_flush(struct tipc_crypto *c)
rx = c;
tx = tipc_net(rx->net)->crypto_tx;
if (cancel_delayed_work(&rx->work)) {
- kfree(rx->skey);
+ kfree_sensitive(rx->skey);
rx->skey = NULL;
atomic_xchg(&rx->key_distr, 0);
tipc_node_put(rx->node);
@@ -2394,7 +2394,7 @@ static void tipc_crypto_work_rx(struct work_struct *work)
break;
default:
synchronize_rcu();
- kfree(rx->skey);
+ kfree_sensitive(rx->skey);
rx->skey = NULL;
break;
}
--
2.51.0