[PATCH] net: shaper: use kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush()

[PATCH] net: shaper: use kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush()

[Tristan Madani]

net_shaper_flush() frees shaper objects with plain kfree() after
xa_erase(), but net_shaper_nl_get_doit() and net_shaper_nl_get_dumpit()
read shaper objects under rcu_read_lock() via xa_load().  This creates a
use-after-free window where an RCU reader may still hold a pointer to a
shaper object that has been freed.

The race is:

  CPU 0 (reader)                    CPU 1 (flush/unregister)
  rcu_read_lock()
  shaper = xa_load(...)             xa_lock()
  // shaper points to valid obj     __xa_erase(...)
                                    kfree(shaper)  <- frees immediately
  net_shaper_fill_one(shaper)       xa_unlock()
  // use-after-free
  rcu_read_unlock()

Other code paths in the same file already use kfree_rcu() correctly
(net_shaper_pre_insert error path, net_shaper_notify_down,
net_shaper_cap_pair_update, and net_shaper_rollback as of commit
b8d7519352ba).  The struct net_shaper already contains an rcu_head field.

Fix by replacing kfree() with kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush() to
defer freeing until after the RCU grace period.

Found by source code audit.

Fixes: ff7d4deb1f3e ("net-shapers: implement shaper cleanup on queue deletion")
Cc: Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Tristan Madani <tristan@talencesecurity.com>
---
 net/shaper/shaper.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/net/shaper/shaper.c b/net/shaper/shaper.c
index dea9270f3e57d..92a6939787240 100644
--- a/net/shaper/shaper.c
+++ b/net/shaper/shaper.c
@@ -1475,7 +1475,7 @@ static void net_shaper_flush(struct net_shaper_binding *binding)
 	xa_lock(&hierarchy->shapers);
 	xa_for_each(&hierarchy->shapers, index, cur) {
 		__xa_erase(&hierarchy->shapers, index);
-		kfree(cur);
+		kfree_rcu(cur, rcu);
 	}
 	xa_unlock(&hierarchy->shapers);
 
-- 
2.47.3

Re: [PATCH] net: shaper: use kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush()

[Jakub Kicinski]

On Thu, 28 May 2026 16:08:45 +0000 Tristan Madani wrote:
> net_shaper_flush() frees shaper objects with plain kfree() after
> xa_erase(), but net_shaper_nl_get_doit() and net_shaper_nl_get_dumpit()
> read shaper objects under rcu_read_lock() via xa_load().  This creates a
> use-after-free window where an RCU reader may still hold a pointer to a
> shaper object that has been freed.
> 
> The race is:
> 
>   CPU 0 (reader)                    CPU 1 (flush/unregister)
>   rcu_read_lock()
>   shaper = xa_load(...)             xa_lock()
>   // shaper points to valid obj     __xa_erase(...)
>                                     kfree(shaper)  <- frees immediately
>   net_shaper_fill_one(shaper)       xa_unlock()
>   // use-after-free
>   rcu_read_unlock()
> 
> Other code paths in the same file already use kfree_rcu() correctly
> (net_shaper_pre_insert error path, net_shaper_notify_down,
> net_shaper_cap_pair_update, and net_shaper_rollback as of commit
> b8d7519352ba).  The struct net_shaper already contains an rcu_head field.
> 
> Fix by replacing kfree() with kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush() to
> defer freeing until after the RCU grace period.
> 
> Found by source code audit.

No, the device is fully invisible at this point.

Please don't send fixes unless you can actually trigger the crash.
-- 
pw-bot: reject
pv-bot: slop