In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/mlx5: DPLL, Fix possible use after free after delayed work timer triggers I managed to hit following use after free warning recently: [ 2169.711665] ================================================================== [ 2169.714009] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __run_timers.part.0+0x179/0x4c0 [ 2169.716293] Write of size 8 at addr ffff88812b326a70 by task swapper/4/0 [ 2169.719022] CPU: 4 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/4 Not tainted 6.8.0-rc2jiri+ #2 [ 2169.720974] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS rel-1.13.0-0-gf21b5a4aeb02-prebuilt.qemu.org 04/01/2014 [ 2169.722457] Call Trace: [ 2169.722756] <IRQ> [ 2169.723024] dump_stack_lvl+0x58/0xb0 [ 2169.723417] print_report+0xc5/0x630 [ 2169.723807] ? __virt_addr_valid+0x126/0x2b0 [ 2169.724268] kasan_report+0xbe/0xf0 [ 2169.724667] ? __run_timers.part.0+0x179/0x4c0 [ 2169.725116] ? __run_timers.part.0+0x179/0x4c0 [ 2169.725570] __run_timers.part.0+0x179/0x4c0 [ 2169.726003] ? call_timer_fn+0x320/0x320 [ 2169.726404] ? lock_downgrade+0x3a0/0x3a0 [ 2169.726820] ? kvm_clock_get_cycles+0x14/0x20 [ 2169.727257] ? ktime_get+0x92/0x150 [ 2169.727630] ? lapic_next_deadline+0x35/0x60 [ 2169.728069] run_timer_softirq+0x40/0x80 [ 2169.728475] __do_softirq+0x1a1/0x509 [ 2169.728866] irq_exit_rcu+0x95/0xc0 [ 2169.729241] sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x6b/0x80 [ 2169.729718] </IRQ> [ 2169.729993] <TASK> [ 2169.730259] asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x16/0x20 [ 2169.730755] RIP: 0010:default_idle+0x13/0x20 [ 2169.731190] Code: c0 08 00 00 00 4d 29 c8 4c 01 c7 4c 29 c2 e9 72 ff ff ff cc cc cc cc 8b 05 9a 7f 1f 02 85 c0 7e 07 0f 00 2d cf 69 43 00 fb f4 <fa> c3 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 65 48 8b 04 25 c0 93 04 00 [ 2169.732759] RSP: 0018:ffff888100dbfe10 EFLAGS: 00000242 [ 2169.733264] RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: ffff888100d9c200 RCX: ffffffff8241bd62 [ 2169.733925] RDX: ffffed109a848b15 RSI: 0000000000000004 RDI: ffffffff8127ac55 [ 2169.734566] RBP: 0000000000000004 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffed109a848b14 [ 2169.735200] R10: ffff8884d42458a3 R11: 000000000000ba7e R12: ffffffff83d7d3a0 [ 2169.735835] R13: 1ffff110201b7fc6 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff888100d9c200 [ 2169.736478] ? ct_kernel_exit.constprop.0+0xa2/0xc0 [ 2169.736954] ? do_idle+0x285/0x290 [ 2169.737323] default_idle_call+0x63/0x90 [ 2169.737730] do_idle+0x285/0x290 [ 2169.738089] ? arch_cpu_idle_exit+0x30/0x30 [ 2169.738511] ? mark_held_locks+0x1a/0x80 [ 2169.738917] ? lockdep_hardirqs_on_prepare+0x12e/0x200 [ 2169.739417] cpu_startup_entry+0x30/0x40 [ 2169.739825] start_secondary+0x19a/0x1c0 [ 2169.740229] ? set_cpu_sibling_map+0xbd0/0xbd0 [ 2169.740673] secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0x15d/0x16b [ 2169.741179] </TASK> [ 2169.741686] Allocated by task 1098: [ 2169.742058] kasan_save_stack+0x1c/0x40 [ 2169.742456] kasan_save_track+0x10/0x30 [ 2169.742852] __kasan_kmalloc+0x83/0x90 [ 2169.743246] mlx5_dpll_probe+0xf5/0x3c0 [mlx5_dpll] [ 2169.743730] auxiliary_bus_probe+0x62/0xb0 [ 2169.744148] really_probe+0x127/0x590 [ 2169.744534] __driver_probe_device+0xd2/0x200 [ 2169.744973] device_driver_attach+0x6b/0xf0 [ 2169.745402] bind_store+0x90/0xe0 [ 2169.745761] kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x1df/0x2a0 [ 2169.746210] vfs_write+0x41f/0x790 [ 2169.746579] ksys_write+0xc7/0x160 [ 2169.746947] do_syscall_64+0x6f/0x140 [ 2169.747333] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0x4e [ 2169.748049] Freed by task 1220: [ 2169.748393] kasan_save_stack+0x1c/0x40 [ 2169.748789] kasan_save_track+0x10/0x30 [ 2169.749188] kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x50 [ 2169.749621] poison_slab_object+0x106/0x180 [ 2169.750044] __kasan_slab_free+0x14/0x50 [ 2169.750451] kfree+0x118/0x330 [ 2169.750792] mlx5_dpll_remove+0xf5/0x110 [mlx5_dpll] [ 2169.751271] auxiliary_bus_remove+0x2e/0x40 [ 2169.751694] device_release_driver_internal+0x24b/0x2e0 [ 2169.752191] unbind_store+0xa6/0xb0 [ 2169.752563] kernfs_fo ---truncated---
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.