Re: [PATCH net-next v2] net: dsa: avoid potential use-after-free error

From: Vladimir Oltean
Date: Fri Nov 20 2020 - 16:05:25 EST


On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 12:59:21PM -0800, Jakub Kicinski wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Nov 2020 20:01:49 +0200 Vladimir Oltean wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 19, 2020 at 12:09:06PM +0100, Christian Eggers wrote:
> > > If dsa_switch_ops::port_txtstamp() returns false, clone will be freed
> > > immediately. Shouldn't store a pointer to freed memory.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Christian Eggers <ceggers@xxxxxxx>
> > > Fixes: 146d442c2357 ("net: dsa: Keep a pointer to the skb clone for TX timestamping")
> > > ---
> >
> > IMO this is one of the cases to which the following from
> > Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst does not apply:
> >
> > - It must fix a real bug that bothers people (not a, "This could be a
> > problem..." type thing).
> >
> > Therefore, specifying "net-next" as the target tree here as opposed to
> > "net" is the correct choice.
>
> The commit message doesn't really explain what happens after.
>
> Is the dangling pointer ever accessed?

Nothing happens afterwards. He explained that he accessed it once while
working on his ksz9477 PTP series. There's no code affected by this in
mainline.