In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: fix UAF by restoring RCU-delayed inode freeing in bpffs
commit 4f375ade6aa9 ("bpf: Avoid RCU context warning when unpinning
htab with internal structs") moved inode cleanup from ->free_inode()
into ->destroy_inode() to avoid sleeping in RCU context when calling
bpf_any_put(). However this removed the RCU delay on freeing the
inode itself and the cached symlink body (i_link), both of which
can be accessed by RCU pathwalk (pick_link, may_lookup etc.).
This causes a use-after-free when a concurrent unlinkat() drops the
last inode reference and destroy_inode() frees the inode immediately,
while another task is still walking the path in RCU mode and reads
inode->i_opflags (offset +2) inside current_time() -> is_mgtime().
KASAN reports:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in is_mgtime include/linux/fs.h:2313
Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880407e4282 (offset +2 = i_opflags)
The rules (per Al Viro):
->destroy_inode() called immediately, can sleep, use for blocking
cleanup e.g. bpf_any_put()
->free_inode() called after RCU grace period, use for freeing
inode and anything RCU-accessible e.g. i_link
Fix: split the two concerns properly:
- keep bpf_any_put() in bpf_destroy_inode() since it is blocking
and needs to run promptly
- introduce bpf_free_inode() to handle kfree(i_link) and
free_inode_nonrcu() with proper RCU delay, preventing the UAF
Attack Parameters
Impact Assessment
CVSS Vector v3.1