[PATCH 6.12 087/244] net: fix fanout UAF in packet_release() via NETDEV_UP race

Greg Kroah-Hartman
2026-03-31T16:49:50Z

From: Yochai Eisenrich <echelonh@gmail.com>

[ Upstream commit 42156f93d123436f2a27c468f18c966b7e5db796 ]

`packet_release()` has a race window where `NETDEV_UP` can re-register a
socket into a fanout group's `arr[]` array. The re-registration is not
cleaned up by `fanout_release()`, leaving a dangling pointer in the fanout
array.
`packet_release()` does NOT zero `po->num` in its `bind_lock` section.
After releasing `bind_lock`, `po->num` is still non-zero and `po->ifindex`
still matches the bound device. A concurrent `packet_notifier(NETDEV_UP)`
that already found the socket in `sklist` can re-register the hook.
For fanout sockets, this re-registration calls `__fanout_link(sk, po)`
which adds the socket back into `f->arr[]` and increments `f->num_members`,
but does NOT increment `f->sk_ref`.

The fix sets `po->num` to zero in `packet_release` while `bind_lock` is
held to prevent NETDEV_UP from linking, preventing the race window.

This bug was found following an additional audit with Claude Code based
on CVE-2025-38617.

Fixes: ce06b03e60fc ("packet: Add helpers to register/unregister ->prot_hook")
Link: https://blog.calif.io/p/a-race-within-a-race-exploiting-cve
Signed-off-by: Yochai Eisenrich <echelonh@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Willem de Bruijn <willemb@google.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260319200610.25101-1-echelonh@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
net/packet/af_packet.c | 1 +
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/net/packet/af_packet.c b/net/packet/af_packet.c
index e8589fede4d4c..10de44530362c 100644
--- a/net/packet/af_packet.c
+++ b/net/packet/af_packet.c
@@ -3189,6 +3189,7 @@ static int packet_release(struct socket *sock)

spin_lock(&po->bind_lock);
unregister_prot_hook(sk, false);
+ WRITE_ONCE(po->num, 0);
packet_cached_dev_reset(po);

if (po->prot_hook.dev) {
--
2.51.0