In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_packet: avoid erroring out after sock_init_data() in packet_create() After sock_init_data() the allocated sk object is attached to the provided sock object. On error, packet_create() frees the sk object leaving the dangling pointer in the sock object on return. Some other code may try to use this pointer and cause use-after-free.
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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.