FAILED: patch "[PATCH] tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer" failed to apply to 5.15-stable tree

FAILED: patch "[PATCH] tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer" failed to apply to 5.15-stable tree

[gregkh]

The patch below does not apply to the 5.15-stable tree.
If someone wants it applied there, or to any other stable or longterm
tree, then please email the backport, including the original git commit
id to <stable@vger.kernel.org>.

To reproduce the conflict and resubmit, you may use the following commands:

git fetch https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/ linux-5.15.y
git checkout FETCH_HEAD
git cherry-pick -x ed0aff60f83a9bdc2f6556376ac79c96b3ce7e80
# <resolve conflicts, build, test, etc.>
git commit -s
git send-email --to '<stable@vger.kernel.org>' --in-reply-to '2026091636-refined-everyone-e63c@gregkh' --subject-prefix 'PATCH 5.15.y' 'HEAD^..'

Possible dependencies:



thanks,

greg k-h

------------------ original commit in Linus's tree ------------------

From ed0aff60f83a9bdc2f6556376ac79c96b3ce7e80 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2026 22:12:09 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer
 options file

When a tracer option file is opened, it is passed a descriptor that points
to an element on the trace_array's topts array. This element has
information to find the trace array and other information. It uses this
element to take a reference of the trace_array so that the trace_array
does not get removed while this file is opened.

Unfortunately, there's a race condition where the element itself could be
freed by the removal of the instance the trace_array represents causing a
use-after-free as this element that is used to find the trace_array to
increment its reference counter is also freed when the instance is
removed.

To solve this, add a trace_array_tracer_options_get() helper function that
will take the address of the element that is passed to the open function
by the inode->i_private pointer and search all the trace_arrays under a
lock to find the one that the element's address is in the range of the
trace_arrays topts array elements. When a match happens, that trace_array's
reference would be increased.

Note, there's a race where if an admin was deleting and creating trace
instances at the same time and the memory of the old trace_array's array
matched the memory of the new trace_array that it could in theory open the
option from the wrong trace array. But we do not care because it would be
stupid to perform that kind of action. As long as the only thing that can
happen is that the option from the wrong trace array is used and doesn't
crash the kernel it will only make the user confused. But if they are
doing something stupid like this, they are already confused, so no harm
done.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260910221209.62dad8d3@robin
Fixes: 7e2cfbd2d3c86 ("tracing: Have option files inc the trace array ref count")
Reported-by: sashiko-bot@kernel.org
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-trace-kernel/20260902121918.5a9e9d1b@gandalf.local.home/
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.c b/kernel/trace/trace.c
index 8658cad53cb5..e4a490d3d08c 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.c
@@ -7717,12 +7717,55 @@ trace_options_write(struct file *filp, const char __user *ubuf, size_t cnt,
 	return cnt;
 }
 
+static bool tr_option_match(struct trace_array *tr, void *topt)
+{
+	for (int i = 0; i < tr->nr_topts; i++) {
+		struct trace_options *tr_topts = &tr->topts[i];
+
+		if (topt >= (void *)&tr_topts->topts[0] &&
+		    topt < (void *)&tr_topts->topts[tr_topts->nr_topts])
+			return true;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+/*
+ * The topt is the address of a trace_array->topts[] element that holds the
+ * the tracer options descriptor. But since the trace_array reference has not
+ * been taken yet, it cannot be dereferenced as it could have been freed by
+ * a rmdir of the instance the trace_array represents.
+ *
+ * Search the list of trace_arrays and compare the topt to the address of
+ * the entire trace_array topts array for each trace_array in the list.
+ * If one is matched, then take the reference and return it. If not, the
+ * trace_array no longer exits.
+ */
+static int trace_array_tracer_options_get(void *topt)
+{
+	struct trace_array *tr;
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = security_locked_down(LOCKDOWN_TRACEFS);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
+	if (tracing_disabled)
+		return -ENODEV;
+
+	guard(mutex)(&trace_types_lock);
+	list_for_each_entry(tr, &ftrace_trace_arrays, list) {
+		if (tr_option_match(tr, topt))
+			return __trace_array_get(tr);
+	}
+	return -ENODEV;
+}
+
 static int tracing_open_options(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 {
 	struct trace_option_dentry *topt = inode->i_private;
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = tracing_check_open_get_tr(topt->tr);
+	ret = trace_array_tracer_options_get(topt);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
@@ -7984,6 +8027,7 @@ create_trace_option_files(struct trace_array *tr, struct tracer *tracer,
 	tr->topts = tr_topts;
 	tr->topts[tr->nr_topts].tracer = tracer;
 	tr->topts[tr->nr_topts].topts = topts;
+	tr->topts[tr->nr_topts].nr_topts = cnt;
 	tr->nr_topts++;
 
 	for (cnt = 0; opts[cnt].name; cnt++) {
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.h b/kernel/trace/trace.h
index 5e76f94e7a80..bd3c8f80300f 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.h
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.h
@@ -227,6 +227,7 @@ struct array_buffer {
 struct trace_options {
 	struct tracer			*tracer;
 	struct trace_option_dentry	*topts;
+	int				nr_topts;
 };
 
 struct trace_pid_list *trace_pid_list_alloc(void);

[PATCH 5.15.y 1/2] tracing: Clean up use of trace_create_maxlat_file()

[Sasha Levin]

From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>

[ Upstream commit ba73713da50e5c24499ca8941171593466ea34f7 ]

In trace.c, the function trace_create_maxlat_file() is defined behind the
 #ifdef CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE block. The #else part defines it as:

 #define trace_create_maxlat_file(tr, d_tracer)				\
	trace_create_file("tracing_max_latency", TRACE_MODE_WRITE,	\
			  d_tracer, tr, &tracing_max_lat_fops)

But the one place that it it used has:

 #ifdef CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE
	trace_create_maxlat_file(tr, d_tracer);
 #endif

Which is pointless and also wrong!

It only gets created when both CONFIG_TRACE_MAX_TRACE and CONFIG_FS_NOTIFY
is defined, but the file itself should not be dependent on
CONFIG_FS_NOTIFY. Always create that file when TRACE_MAX_TRACE is defined
regardless if FS_NOTIFY is or is not.

Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Acked-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260207191101.0e014abd@robin
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Stable-dep-of: ed0aff60f83a ("tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file")
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
 kernel/trace/trace.c | 38 ++++++++++++++++----------------------
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.c b/kernel/trace/trace.c
index 151348435861c..ee72583c64c96 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.c
@@ -1690,10 +1690,7 @@ static ssize_t trace_seq_to_buffer(struct trace_seq *s, void *buf, size_t cnt)
 unsigned long __read_mostly	tracing_thresh;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE
-static const struct file_operations tracing_max_lat_fops;
-
 #ifdef LATENCY_FS_NOTIFY
-
 static struct workqueue_struct *fsnotify_wq;
 
 static void latency_fsnotify_workfn(struct work_struct *work)
@@ -1710,17 +1707,6 @@ static void latency_fsnotify_workfn_irq(struct irq_work *iwork)
 	queue_work(fsnotify_wq, &tr->fsnotify_work);
 }
 
-static void trace_create_maxlat_file(struct trace_array *tr,
-				     struct dentry *d_tracer)
-{
-	INIT_WORK(&tr->fsnotify_work, latency_fsnotify_workfn);
-	init_irq_work(&tr->fsnotify_irqwork, latency_fsnotify_workfn_irq);
-	tr->d_max_latency = trace_create_file("tracing_max_latency",
-					      TRACE_MODE_WRITE,
-					      d_tracer, tr,
-					      &tracing_max_lat_fops);
-}
-
 __init static int latency_fsnotify_init(void)
 {
 	fsnotify_wq = alloc_workqueue("tr_max_lat_wq",
@@ -1745,14 +1731,22 @@ void latency_fsnotify(struct trace_array *tr)
 	 */
 	irq_work_queue(&tr->fsnotify_irqwork);
 }
+#endif /* !LATENCY_FS_NOTIFY */
 
-#else /* !LATENCY_FS_NOTIFY */
-
-#define trace_create_maxlat_file(tr, d_tracer)				\
-	trace_create_file("tracing_max_latency", TRACE_MODE_WRITE,	\
-			  d_tracer, tr, &tracing_max_lat_fops)
+static const struct file_operations tracing_max_lat_fops;
 
+static void trace_create_maxlat_file(struct trace_array *tr,
+				     struct dentry *d_tracer)
+{
+#ifdef LATENCY_FS_NOTIFY
+	INIT_WORK(&tr->fsnotify_work, latency_fsnotify_workfn);
+	init_irq_work(&tr->fsnotify_irqwork, latency_fsnotify_workfn_irq);
 #endif
+	tr->d_max_latency = trace_create_file("tracing_max_latency",
+					      TRACE_MODE_WRITE,
+					      d_tracer, tr,
+					      &tracing_max_lat_fops);
+}
 
 /*
  * Copy the new maximum trace into the separate maximum-trace
@@ -1887,7 +1881,9 @@ update_max_tr_single(struct trace_array *tr, struct task_struct *tsk, int cpu)
 	__update_max_tr(tr, tsk, cpu);
 	arch_spin_unlock(&tr->max_lock);
 }
-
+#else /* !CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE */
+static inline void trace_create_maxlat_file(struct trace_array *tr,
+					    struct dentry *d_tracer) { }
 #endif /* CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE */
 
 static int wait_on_pipe(struct trace_iterator *iter, int full)
@@ -9704,9 +9700,7 @@ init_tracer_tracefs(struct trace_array *tr, struct dentry *d_tracer)
 
 	create_trace_options_dir(tr);
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_TRACER_MAX_TRACE
 	trace_create_maxlat_file(tr, d_tracer);
-#endif
 
 	if (ftrace_create_function_files(tr, d_tracer))
 		MEM_FAIL(1, "Could not allocate function filter files");
-- 
2.53.0

[PATCH 5.15.y 2/2] tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file

[Sasha Levin]

From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>

[ Upstream commit ed0aff60f83a9bdc2f6556376ac79c96b3ce7e80 ]

When a tracer option file is opened, it is passed a descriptor that points
to an element on the trace_array's topts array. This element has
information to find the trace array and other information. It uses this
element to take a reference of the trace_array so that the trace_array
does not get removed while this file is opened.

Unfortunately, there's a race condition where the element itself could be
freed by the removal of the instance the trace_array represents causing a
use-after-free as this element that is used to find the trace_array to
increment its reference counter is also freed when the instance is
removed.

To solve this, add a trace_array_tracer_options_get() helper function that
will take the address of the element that is passed to the open function
by the inode->i_private pointer and search all the trace_arrays under a
lock to find the one that the element's address is in the range of the
trace_arrays topts array elements. When a match happens, that trace_array's
reference would be increased.

Note, there's a race where if an admin was deleting and creating trace
instances at the same time and the memory of the old trace_array's array
matched the memory of the new trace_array that it could in theory open the
option from the wrong trace array. But we do not care because it would be
stupid to perform that kind of action. As long as the only thing that can
happen is that the option from the wrong trace array is used and doesn't
crash the kernel it will only make the user confused. But if they are
doing something stupid like this, they are already confused, so no harm
done.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260910221209.62dad8d3@robin
Fixes: 7e2cfbd2d3c86 ("tracing: Have option files inc the trace array ref count")
Reported-by: sashiko-bot@kernel.org
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-trace-kernel/20260902121918.5a9e9d1b@gandalf.local.home/
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
[ replaced guard(mutex) and __trace_array_get() with explicit locking and tr->ref++, using GNU89-compatible declarations. ]
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---
 kernel/trace/trace.c | 53 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 kernel/trace/trace.h |  1 +
 2 files changed, 53 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.c b/kernel/trace/trace.c
index ee72583c64c96..f735688520f7f 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.c
@@ -8865,12 +8865,62 @@ trace_options_write(struct file *filp, const char __user *ubuf, size_t cnt,
 	return cnt;
 }
 
+static bool tr_option_match(struct trace_array *tr, void *topt)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < tr->nr_topts; i++) {
+		struct trace_options *tr_topts = &tr->topts[i];
+
+		if (topt >= (void *)&tr_topts->topts[0] &&
+		    topt < (void *)&tr_topts->topts[tr_topts->nr_topts])
+			return true;
+	}
+	return false;
+}
+
+/*
+ * The topt is the address of a trace_array->topts[] element that holds the
+ * the tracer options descriptor. But since the trace_array reference has not
+ * been taken yet, it cannot be dereferenced as it could have been freed by
+ * a rmdir of the instance the trace_array represents.
+ *
+ * Search the list of trace_arrays and compare the topt to the address of
+ * the entire trace_array topts array for each trace_array in the list.
+ * If one is matched, then take the reference and return it. If not, the
+ * trace_array no longer exits.
+ */
+static int trace_array_tracer_options_get(void *topt)
+{
+	struct trace_array *tr;
+	int ret;
+
+	ret = security_locked_down(LOCKDOWN_TRACEFS);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
+
+	if (tracing_disabled)
+		return -ENODEV;
+
+	ret = -ENODEV;
+	mutex_lock(&trace_types_lock);
+	list_for_each_entry(tr, &ftrace_trace_arrays, list) {
+		if (tr_option_match(tr, topt)) {
+			tr->ref++;
+			ret = 0;
+			break;
+		}
+	}
+	mutex_unlock(&trace_types_lock);
+	return ret;
+}
+
 static int tracing_open_options(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 {
 	struct trace_option_dentry *topt = inode->i_private;
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = tracing_check_open_get_tr(topt->tr);
+	ret = trace_array_tracer_options_get(topt);
 	if (ret)
 		return ret;
 
@@ -9093,6 +9143,7 @@ create_trace_option_files(struct trace_array *tr, struct tracer *tracer)
 	tr->topts = tr_topts;
 	tr->topts[tr->nr_topts].tracer = tracer;
 	tr->topts[tr->nr_topts].topts = topts;
+	tr->topts[tr->nr_topts].nr_topts = cnt;
 	tr->nr_topts++;
 
 	for (cnt = 0; opts[cnt].name; cnt++) {
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace.h b/kernel/trace/trace.h
index a632965446b8e..306455f2c034b 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace.h
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace.h
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ struct array_buffer {
 struct trace_options {
 	struct tracer			*tracer;
 	struct trace_option_dentry	*topts;
+	int				nr_topts;
 };
 
 struct trace_pid_list *trace_pid_list_alloc(void);
-- 
2.53.0