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From: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
To: stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>, Jay Vosburgh <jv@jvosburgh.net>,
	Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>, Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>,
	Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
Subject: [PATCH 6.12.y 3/3] net: netpoll: fix incorrect refcount handling causing incorrect cleanup
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2025 14:43:03 -0500	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20251120194303.2293083-3-sashal@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20251120194303.2293083-1-sashal@kernel.org>

From: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>

[ Upstream commit 49c8d2c1f94cc2f4d1a108530d7ba52614b874c2 ]

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>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251107-netconsole_torture-v10-1-749227b55f63@debian.org
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@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 3f6dca03fa600..47e6fb660f03e 100644
--- a/net/core/netpoll.c
+++ b/net/core/netpoll.c
@@ -841,6 +841,10 @@ 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;
 
@@ -850,8 +854,7 @@ 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);
 }
-- 
2.51.0


      parent reply	other threads:[~2025-11-20 19:43 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2025-11-20 16:11 FAILED: patch "[PATCH] net: netpoll: fix incorrect refcount handling causing" failed to apply to 6.12-stable tree gregkh
2025-11-20 19:43 ` [PATCH 6.12.y 1/3] net: netpoll: Individualize the skb pool Sasha Levin
2025-11-20 19:43   ` [PATCH 6.12.y 2/3] net: netpoll: flush skb pool during cleanup Sasha Levin
2025-11-20 19:43   ` Sasha Levin [this message]

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