From: "Cen Zhang (Microsoft)" <blbllhy@gmail.com>
To: pablo@netfilter.org, fw@strlen.de, davem@davemloft.net,
edumazet@google.com, kuba@kernel.org, pabeni@redhat.com
Cc: phil@nwl.cc, horms@kernel.org, xuanqiang.luo@linux.dev,
kadlec@netfilter.org, kees@kernel.org,
enrico.pozzobon@dissecto.com, sbrivio@redhat.com,
netfilter-devel@vger.kernel.org, coreteam@netfilter.org,
netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
AutonomousCodeSecurity@microsoft.com, xmei5@asu.edu,
tgopinath@linux.microsoft.com, kys@microsoft.com,
blbllhy@gmail.com
Subject: [PATCH net v2] netfilter: ipset: add synchronize_rcu() in destroy to close use-after-free race
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:02:43 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260825200243.23077-1-blbllhy@gmail.com> (raw)
The child set refcount decrement in list_set_del() was moved from an RCU
callback to the synchronous path, so that userspace sees accurate
reference counts immediately. However, this broke an implicit invariant:
previously ref could only reach zero after an RCU grace period,
guaranteeing all RCU readers had finished before destroy could proceed.
Now ref can hit zero while readers still hold a stale index, and
ip_set_destroy() NULLs the slot out from under them:
CPU 0 (softirq) CPU 1 (control path)
--- ---
rcu_read_lock()
index = e->id
list_set_del():
list_del_rcu(e)
ip_set_put_byindex(index) // ref->0
ip_set_destroy():
ip_set_list[index] = NULL
ip_set_rcu_get(index) -> NULL
BUG_ON(!set) // crash
kernel BUG at net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c:754!
ip_set_test <- list_set_kadt <- ip_set_test <- set_match_v1
Insert synchronize_rcu() in ip_set_destroy() after confirming ref == 0
but before NULLing the slot, so it only pays the RCU wait cost when
actually destroying. Because synchronize_rcu() sleeps, ip_set_ref_lock
must be dropped first, which splits the critical section in two. A
recheck of ref/ref_netlink is therefore needed in the second section,
since a concurrent netlink dump continuation (which does not hold
nfnl_lock) may have incremented ref_netlink in the interim.
The bulk _destroy_all_sets() path does not need this recheck because
its is_destroyed flag prevents dump from taking new references.
Fixes: 439cd39ea136 ("netfilter: ipset: list:set: Decrease refcount synchronously on deletion and replace")
Reported-by: AutonomousCodeSecurity@microsoft.com
Reported-by: Xiang Mei (Microsoft) <xmei5@asu.edu>
Reported-by: Cen Zhang (Microsoft) <blbllhy@gmail.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260820010617.46851-1-blbllhy@gmail.com/
Signed-off-by: Cen Zhang (Microsoft) <blbllhy@gmail.com>
---
net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c | 13 +++++++++++++
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)
diff --git a/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c b/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c
index 0a86a170ba90..1295bea7944a 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c
@@ -1225,6 +1225,8 @@ _destroy_all_sets(struct ip_set_net *inst)
/* Must wait for flush to be really finished */
if (need_wait)
rcu_barrier();
+ /* Wait for RCU readers before NULLing slots */
+ synchronize_rcu();
for (i = 0; i < inst->ip_set_max; i++) {
set = ip_set(inst, i);
if (set) {
@@ -1286,6 +1288,17 @@ static int ip_set_destroy(struct sk_buff *skb, const struct nfnl_info *info,
ret = -IPSET_ERR_BUSY;
goto out;
}
+ read_unlock_bh(&ip_set_ref_lock);
+
+ /* Wait for RCU readers before NULLing slot */
+ synchronize_rcu();
+
+ read_lock_bh(&ip_set_ref_lock);
+ /* Dump may have taken a ref while lock was dropped */
+ if (s->ref || s->ref_netlink) {
+ ret = -IPSET_ERR_BUSY;
+ goto out;
+ }
features = s->type->features;
ip_set(inst, i) = NULL;
read_unlock_bh(&ip_set_ref_lock);
--
2.55.0
reply other threads:[~2026-08-25 20:02 UTC|newest]
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