[PATCH net v2] netpoll: fix a use-after-free on shutdown path

[PATCH net v2] netpoll: fix a use-after-free on shutdown path

[Breno Leitao]

There is a use-after-free error on netpoll, which is clearly detected by
KASAN.

      BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x3b/0x80
      Read of size 1 at addr ... by task kworker/9:1
      Workqueue: events queue_process
      Call Trace:
       skb_dequeue+0x1e/0xb0
       queue_process+0x2c/0x600
       process_scheduled_works+0x4b6/0x850
       worker_thread+0x414/0x5a0
      Allocated by task 242:
       __netpoll_setup+0x201/0x4a0
       netpoll_setup+0x249/0x550
       enabled_store+0x32f/0x380
      Freed by task 0:
       kfree+0x1b7/0x540
       rcu_core+0x3f8/0x7a0

The problem happens when there is a pending TX worker running in
parallel with the cleanup path.

This is what happens on netpoll shutdown path:

1) __netpoll_cleanup() is called
2) set dev->npinfo to NULL
3) call_rcu() with rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info()
  3.1) rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info() tries to cancel all workers with
       cancel_delayed_work(), but doesn't wait for the worker to finish
4) and kfree(npinfo);

Because 3.1) doesn't really cancel the work, as the comment says "we
can't call cancel_delayed_work_sync here, as we are in softirq", the TX
worker can run after 4).

Tl;DR: queue_process() is not an RCU reader, it reaches npinfo through
the work item via container_of().

Use disable_delayed_work_sync() to ensure the worker is completely
stopped and prevent any future re-arming attempts. Once npinfo is set
to NULL, senders will bail out and not queue new work. The disable flag
ensures any in-flight re-arming attempts also fail silently.

In the future, we can do the cleanup inline here without needing the
npinfo->rcu rcu_head, but that is net-next material.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 38e6bc185d95 ("netpoll: make __netpoll_cleanup non-block")
Reviewed-by: Pavan Chebbi <pavan.chebbi@broadcom.com>
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
---
Changes in v2:
- Remove the synchronize_rcu() and keep cancel the tx_work
  before call_rcu(). (Jakub)
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260622-netpoll_rcu_fix-v1-1-15c3285e92e6@debian.org
---
 net/core/netpoll.c | 9 +--------
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/core/netpoll.c b/net/core/netpoll.c
index 229dde818ab33..96d5945e6a30f 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -633,14 +633,6 @@ static void rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info(struct rcu_head *rcu_head)
 			container_of(rcu_head, struct netpoll_info, rcu);
 
 	skb_queue_purge(&npinfo->txq);
-
-	/* we can't call cancel_delayed_work_sync here, as we are in softirq */
-	cancel_delayed_work(&npinfo->tx_work);
-
-	/* clean after last, unfinished work */
-	__skb_queue_purge(&npinfo->txq);
-	/* now cancel it again */
-	cancel_delayed_work(&npinfo->tx_work);
 	kfree(npinfo);
 }
 
@@ -664,6 +656,7 @@ static void __netpoll_cleanup(struct netpoll *np)
 			ops->ndo_netpoll_cleanup(np->dev);
 
 		RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
+		disable_delayed_work_sync(&npinfo->tx_work);
 		call_rcu(&npinfo->rcu, rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info);
 	}
 

---
base-commit: d07d80b6a129a44538cda1549b7acf95154fb197
change-id: 20260622-netpoll_rcu_fix-def7bce1207a

Best regards,
-- 
Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>

Re: [PATCH net v2] netpoll: fix a use-after-free on shutdown path

[patchwork-bot+netdevbpf]

Hello:

This patch was applied to netdev/net.git (main)
by Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>:

On Thu, 25 Jun 2026 05:03:18 -0700 you wrote:
> There is a use-after-free error on netpoll, which is clearly detected by
> KASAN.
> 
>       BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x3b/0x80
>       Read of size 1 at addr ... by task kworker/9:1
>       Workqueue: events queue_process
>       Call Trace:
>        skb_dequeue+0x1e/0xb0
>        queue_process+0x2c/0x600
>        process_scheduled_works+0x4b6/0x850
>        worker_thread+0x414/0x5a0
>       Allocated by task 242:
>        __netpoll_setup+0x201/0x4a0
>        netpoll_setup+0x249/0x550
>        enabled_store+0x32f/0x380
>       Freed by task 0:
>        kfree+0x1b7/0x540
>        rcu_core+0x3f8/0x7a0
> 
> [...]

Here is the summary with links:
  - [net,v2] netpoll: fix a use-after-free on shutdown path
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net/c/45f1458a8501

You are awesome, thank you!
-- 
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