[PATCH] xfrm: fix memory leak in xfrm_add_policy()
From: Deepanshu Kartikey
Date: Sat Apr 11 2026 - 22:11:07 EST
When xfrm_policy_insert() fails, the error path performs manual
cleanup by calling xfrm_dev_policy_free(), security_xfrm_policy_free()
and kfree() directly. This is incorrect because xfrm_policy_destroy()
already handles all of these, causing a memory leak detected by
kmemleak.
Replace the open-coded cleanup with xfrm_policy_destroy(), consistent
with the error handling in xfrm_policy_construct(). The walk.dead
flag must be set before calling xfrm_policy_destroy() as it requires
it via BUG_ON(!policy->walk.dead).
Fixes: 94b95dfaa814 ("xfrm: release all offloaded policy memory")
Reported-by: syzbot+901d48e0b95aed4a2548@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=901d48e0b95aed4a2548
Tested-by: syzbot+901d48e0b95aed4a2548@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Deepanshu Kartikey <kartikey406@xxxxxxxxx>
---
net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c | 5 ++---
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c b/net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c
index d56450f61669..ae144d1e4a65 100644
--- a/net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c
+++ b/net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c
@@ -2267,9 +2267,8 @@ static int xfrm_add_policy(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh,
if (err) {
xfrm_dev_policy_delete(xp);
- xfrm_dev_policy_free(xp);
- security_xfrm_policy_free(xp->security);
- kfree(xp);
+ xp->walk.dead = 1;
+ xfrm_policy_destroy(xp);
return err;
}
--
2.43.0