In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: blk-cgroup: Fix UAF in blkcg_unpin_online() blkcg_unpin_online() walks up the blkcg hierarchy putting the online pin. To walk up, it uses blkcg_parent(blkcg) but it was calling that after blkcg_destroy_blkgs(blkcg) which could free the blkcg, leading to the following UAF: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in blkcg_unpin_online+0x15a/0x270 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8881057678c0 by task kworker/9:1/117 CPU: 9 UID: 0 PID: 117 Comm: kworker/9:1 Not tainted 6.13.0-rc1-work-00182-gb8f52214c61a-dirty #48 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS unknown 02/02/2022 Workqueue: cgwb_release cgwb_release_workfn Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x27/0x80 print_report+0x151/0x710 kasan_report+0xc0/0x100 blkcg_unpin_online+0x15a/0x270 cgwb_release_workfn+0x194/0x480 process_scheduled_works+0x71b/0xe20 worker_thread+0x82a/0xbd0 kthread+0x242/0x2c0 ret_from_fork+0x33/0x70 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 </TASK> ... Freed by task 1944: kasan_save_track+0x2b/0x70 kasan_save_free_info+0x3c/0x50 __kasan_slab_free+0x33/0x50 kfree+0x10c/0x330 css_free_rwork_fn+0xe6/0xb30 process_scheduled_works+0x71b/0xe20 worker_thread+0x82a/0xbd0 kthread+0x242/0x2c0 ret_from_fork+0x33/0x70 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 Note that the UAF is not easy to trigger as the free path is indirected behind a couple RCU grace periods and a work item execution. I could only trigger it with artifical msleep() injected in blkcg_unpin_online(). Fix it by reading the parent pointer before destroying the blkcg's blkg's.
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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.