[PATCH] net: shaper: use kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush()

From: Tristan Madani

Date: Thu May 28 2026 - 12:58:01 EST


net_shaper_flush() frees shaper objects with plain kfree() after
xa_erase(), but net_shaper_nl_get_doit() and net_shaper_nl_get_dumpit()
read shaper objects under rcu_read_lock() via xa_load(). This creates a
use-after-free window where an RCU reader may still hold a pointer to a
shaper object that has been freed.

The race is:

CPU 0 (reader) CPU 1 (flush/unregister)
rcu_read_lock()
shaper = xa_load(...) xa_lock()
// shaper points to valid obj __xa_erase(...)
kfree(shaper) <- frees immediately
net_shaper_fill_one(shaper) xa_unlock()
// use-after-free
rcu_read_unlock()

Other code paths in the same file already use kfree_rcu() correctly
(net_shaper_pre_insert error path, net_shaper_notify_down,
net_shaper_cap_pair_update, and net_shaper_rollback as of commit
b8d7519352ba). The struct net_shaper already contains an rcu_head field.

Fix by replacing kfree() with kfree_rcu() in net_shaper_flush() to
defer freeing until after the RCU grace period.

Found by source code audit.

Fixes: ff7d4deb1f3e ("net-shapers: implement shaper cleanup on queue deletion")
Cc: Paolo Abeni <pabeni@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Tristan Madani <tristan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
net/shaper/shaper.c | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/net/shaper/shaper.c b/net/shaper/shaper.c
index dea9270f3e57d..92a6939787240 100644
--- a/net/shaper/shaper.c
+++ b/net/shaper/shaper.c
@@ -1475,7 +1475,7 @@ static void net_shaper_flush(struct net_shaper_binding *binding)
xa_lock(&hierarchy->shapers);
xa_for_each(&hierarchy->shapers, index, cur) {
__xa_erase(&hierarchy->shapers, index);
- kfree(cur);
+ kfree_rcu(cur, rcu);
}
xa_unlock(&hierarchy->shapers);

--
2.47.3