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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


  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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