From: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
To: Andrew Lunn <andrew+netdev@lunn.ch>,
"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>,
Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>,
Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>, Shuah Khan <shuah@kernel.org>,
Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>,
david decotigny <decot@googlers.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org,
linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org, asantostc@gmail.com,
efault@gmx.de, calvin@wbinvd.org, kernel-team@meta.com,
calvin@wbinvd.org, jv@jvosburgh.net,
Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>,
stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH net v8 1/4] net: netpoll: fix incorrect refcount handling causing incorrect cleanup
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2025 09:37:01 -0800 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20251104-netconsole_torture-v8-1-5288440e2fa0@debian.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20251104-netconsole_torture-v8-0-5288440e2fa0@debian.org>
commit efa95b01da18 ("netpoll: fix use after free") incorrectly
ignored the refcount and prematurely set dev->npinfo to NULL during
netpoll cleanup, leading to improper behavior and memory leaks.
Scenario causing lack of proper cleanup:
1) A netpoll is associated with a NIC (e.g., eth0) and netdev->npinfo is
allocated, and refcnt = 1
- Keep in mind that npinfo is shared among all netpoll instances. In
this case, there is just one.
2) Another netpoll is also associated with the same NIC and
npinfo->refcnt += 1.
- Now dev->npinfo->refcnt = 2;
- There is just one npinfo associated to the netdev.
3) When the first netpolls goes to clean up:
- The first cleanup succeeds and clears np->dev->npinfo, ignoring
refcnt.
- It basically calls `RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);`
- Set dev->npinfo = NULL, without proper cleanup
- No ->ndo_netpoll_cleanup() is either called
4) Now the second target tries to clean up
- The second cleanup fails because np->dev->npinfo is already NULL.
* In this case, ops->ndo_netpoll_cleanup() was never called, and
the skb pool is not cleaned as well (for the second netpoll
instance)
- This leaks npinfo and skbpool skbs, which is clearly reported by
kmemleak.
Revert commit efa95b01da18 ("netpoll: fix use after free") and adds
clarifying comments emphasizing that npinfo cleanup should only happen
once the refcount reaches zero, ensuring stable and correct netpoll
behavior.
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.17.x
Cc: Jay Vosburgh <jv@jvosburgh.net>
Fixes: efa95b01da18 ("netpoll: fix use after free")
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
Reviewed-by: Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>
---
net/core/netpoll.c | 7 +++++--
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/core/netpoll.c b/net/core/netpoll.c
index 60a05d3b7c249..f4a0023428265 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -814,6 +814,10 @@ static void __netpoll_cleanup(struct netpoll *np)
if (!npinfo)
return;
+ /* At this point, there is a single npinfo instance per netdevice, and
+ * its refcnt tracks how many netpoll structures are linked to it. We
+ * only perform npinfo cleanup when the refcnt decrements to zero.
+ */
if (refcount_dec_and_test(&npinfo->refcnt)) {
const struct net_device_ops *ops;
@@ -823,8 +827,7 @@ static void __netpoll_cleanup(struct netpoll *np)
RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
call_rcu(&npinfo->rcu, rcu_cleanup_netpoll_info);
- } else
- RCU_INIT_POINTER(np->dev->npinfo, NULL);
+ }
skb_pool_flush(np);
}
--
2.47.3
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-11-04 17:37 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-11-04 17:37 [PATCH net v8 0/4] net: netpoll: fix memory leak and add comprehensive selftests Breno Leitao
2025-11-04 17:37 ` Breno Leitao [this message]
2025-11-04 17:37 ` [PATCH net v8 2/4] selftest: netcons: refactor target creation Breno Leitao
2025-11-04 17:37 ` [PATCH net v8 3/4] selftest: netcons: create a torture test Breno Leitao
2025-11-04 17:37 ` [PATCH net v8 4/4] selftest: netcons: add test for netconsole over bonded interfaces Breno Leitao
2025-11-05 16:04 ` Breno Leitao
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