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From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@kernel.org>
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>,
	Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@arm.com>,
	Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
	stable@vger.kernel.org, Yuanhe Shu <xiangzao@linux.alibaba.com>
Subject: [for-linus][PATCH 10/13] tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in func_set_flag()
Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2026 09:46:14 -0400	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260707134624.833964338@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 20260707134604.275787924@kernel.org

From: Yuanhe Shu <xiangzao@linux.alibaba.com>

func_set_flag() dereferences tr->current_trace_flags before verifying
that the current tracer is actually the function tracer. When the active
tracer has been switched away from "function" (e.g., to "wakeup_rt"),
tr->current_trace_flags can be NULL, leading to a NULL pointer
dereference and kernel crash.

The call chain that triggers this is:

  trace_options_write()
    -> __set_tracer_option()
      -> trace->set_flag()          /* func_set_flag */

In func_set_flag(), the first operation is:

  if (!!set == !!(tr->current_trace_flags->val & bit))

This dereferences tr->current_trace_flags unconditionally. The safety
check that guards against a non-function tracer:

  if (tr->current_trace != &function_trace)
      return 0;

is placed *after* the dereference, which is too late.

This was observed with the following crash dump:

  BUG: unable to handle page fault at 0000000000000000
  RIP: func_set_flag+0xd

  Call Trace:
   __set_tracer_option+0x27
   trace_options_write+0x75
   vfs_write+0x12a
   ksys_write+0x66
   do_syscall_64+0x5b

  RIP: ffffffff914c973d  RSP: ff67ec88b01dfdf0  RFLAGS: 00010202
  RAX: 0000000000000000  RBX: ff3a826e80354580  RCX: 0000000000000001
  RDX: 0000000000000001  RSI: 0000000000000000  RDI: ffffffff93918080

The disassembly confirms the fault:

  func_set_flag+0:   mov 0x1f08(%rdi), %rax  ; RAX = tr->current_trace_flags = NULL
  func_set_flag+13:  mov (%rax), %eax        ; page fault: dereference NULL

At the time of the crash:
  tr->current_trace_flags = 0x0 (NULL)
  tr->current_trace = wakeup_rt_tracer (not function_trace)

The scenario is that a process opens a function tracer option file (such
as "func_stack_trace"), then the current tracer is switched to another
tracer (e.g., "wakeup_rt"), which sets current_trace_flags to NULL. When
the process subsequently writes to the option file, func_set_flag() is
invoked and crashes on the NULL dereference.

Fix this by moving the current_trace check before the
current_trace_flags dereference, so that func_set_flag() returns early
when the function tracer is not active.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260624061715.1445655-1-xiangzao@linux.alibaba.com
Fixes: 76680d0d2825 ("tracing: Have function tracer define options per instance")
Signed-off-by: Yuanhe Shu <xiangzao@linux.alibaba.com>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
---
 kernel/trace/trace_functions.c | 8 ++++----
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_functions.c b/kernel/trace/trace_functions.c
index f283391a4dc8..cd37f2013758 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_functions.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_functions.c
@@ -458,12 +458,12 @@ func_set_flag(struct trace_array *tr, u32 old_flags, u32 bit, int set)
 	ftrace_func_t func;
 	u32 new_flags;
 
-	/* Do nothing if already set. */
-	if (!!set == !!(tr->current_trace_flags->val & bit))
+	/* We can change this flag only when current tracer is function. */
+	if (tr->current_trace != &function_trace)
 		return 0;
 
-	/* We can change this flag only when not running. */
-	if (tr->current_trace != &function_trace)
+	/* Do nothing if already set. */
+	if (!!set == !!(tr->current_trace_flags->val & bit))
 		return 0;
 
 	new_flags = (tr->current_trace_flags->val & ~bit) | (set ? bit : 0);
-- 
2.53.0



  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-07-07 13:46 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 15+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-07 13:46 [for-linus][PATCH 00/13] tracing: Fixes for 7.2 Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 01/13] tracing/synthetic: Free pending field on error path Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 02/13] ring-buffer: Fix event length with forced 8-byte alignment Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 03/13] tracing/osnoise: Call synchronize_rcu() when unregistering Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 04/13] tracing: Remove unused ret assignment in tracing_set_tracer() Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 05/13] ring_buffer: Check page order under reader_lock Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 14:37   ` Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 06/13] ring-buffer: Fix ring_buffer_read_page() copying only one event per page Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 07/13] tracing: make tracepoint_printk static as not exported Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 08/13] tracing/user_events: Fix use-after-free of enabler in user_event_mm_dup() Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 09/13] samples: ftrace: Fix typos in benchmark comment Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` Steven Rostedt [this message]
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 11/13] ufs: core: tracing: Do not dereference pointers in TP_printk() Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 12/13] tracing: Prevent out-of-bounds read in glob matching Steven Rostedt
2026-07-07 13:46 ` [for-linus][PATCH 13/13] tracing: Add a no-rcu-check version of trace_##event##_enabled() Steven Rostedt

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