In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sfc: fix use after free when disabling sriov Use after free is detected by kfence when disabling sriov. What was read after being freed was vf->pci_dev: it was freed from pci_disable_sriov and later read in efx_ef10_sriov_free_vf_vports, called from efx_ef10_sriov_free_vf_vswitching. Set the pointer to NULL at release time to not trying to read it later. Reproducer and dmesg log (note that kfence doesn't detect it every time): $ echo 1 > /sys/class/net/enp65s0f0np0/device/sriov_numvfs $ echo 0 > /sys/class/net/enp65s0f0np0/device/sriov_numvfs BUG: KFENCE: use-after-free read in efx_ef10_sriov_free_vf_vswitching+0x82/0x170 [sfc] Use-after-free read at 0x00000000ff3c1ba5 (in kfence-#224): efx_ef10_sriov_free_vf_vswitching+0x82/0x170 [sfc] efx_ef10_pci_sriov_disable+0x38/0x70 [sfc] efx_pci_sriov_configure+0x24/0x40 [sfc] sriov_numvfs_store+0xfe/0x140 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11c/0x1b0 new_sync_write+0x11f/0x1b0 vfs_write+0x1eb/0x280 ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x5c/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae kfence-#224: 0x00000000edb8ef95-0x00000000671f5ce1, size=2792, cache=kmalloc-4k allocated by task 6771 on cpu 10 at 3137.860196s: pci_alloc_dev+0x21/0x60 pci_iov_add_virtfn+0x2a2/0x320 sriov_enable+0x212/0x3e0 efx_ef10_sriov_configure+0x67/0x80 [sfc] efx_pci_sriov_configure+0x24/0x40 [sfc] sriov_numvfs_store+0xba/0x140 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11c/0x1b0 new_sync_write+0x11f/0x1b0 vfs_write+0x1eb/0x280 ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x5c/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae freed by task 6771 on cpu 12 at 3170.991309s: device_release+0x34/0x90 kobject_cleanup+0x3a/0x130 pci_iov_remove_virtfn+0xd9/0x120 sriov_disable+0x30/0xe0 efx_ef10_pci_sriov_disable+0x57/0x70 [sfc] efx_pci_sriov_configure+0x24/0x40 [sfc] sriov_numvfs_store+0xfe/0x140 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x11c/0x1b0 new_sync_write+0x11f/0x1b0 vfs_write+0x1eb/0x280 ksys_write+0x5f/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x5c/0x80 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.