Re: [PATCH net-next] macvlan: fix use-after-free of macvlan_port in macvlan_fill_info()

From: Kuniyuki Iwashima

Date: Mon Jun 01 2026 - 21:00:26 EST


From: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2026 14:13:03 +0800
> This issue was reported by our internal syzkaller [1].
>
> rtnl_link_ops->macvlan_fill_info() reads and dereferences
> 'port = vlan->port'.
>
> However, when we delete the underlying physical device of a
> macvlan (e.g., eth0), we traverse all child macvlan devices and call
> ndo_uninit -> macvlan_uninit.
>
> Each child goes through ndo_uninit -> macvlan_uninit, which
> synchronously kfree()s the shared port once the last child is gone, but
> does not clear vlan->port. The child netdevice itself is NOT freed here:
> its free_netdev() is deferred to netdev_run_todo(), and a concurrent
> rtnl_getlink() additionally holds a reference via netdev_hold(). So the
> netdevice stays alive with a now-dangling vlan->port, which
> macvlan_fill_info() later dereferences -> use-after-free.
>
> Here, we set vlan->port = NULL after kfree(port), and then add a NULL check
> in macvlan_fill_info(). Both kfree(port) and vlan->port = NULL are atomic
> under the protection of the rtnl lock, so this is safe.
>
> In macvlan_fill_info(), if port does not exist, we should simply ignore it
> and not goto nla_put_failure; otherwise, it would trigger WARN_ON_ONCE(1)
> in rtnl_getlink().

The splat implies the same class of issues in other devices, so
I don't think this macvlan-specific fix is the right approach.

We should give up dumping if dev->reg_state is not NETREG_REGISTERED
after acquiring RTNL, and I think Eric was preparing such a patch ?

https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/CANn89i+UMyx-rKO0ScZkcJYG_vk=_kddcQC+SxbbYSEyUTPgGw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/


>
> vlan->port has no concurrent reader either (all under rtnl_lock, the
> lockless xmit path is quiesced before macvlan_uninit()), so no
> READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE() is needed.
>
> Before the blamed commit, rtnl_getlink() ran __dev_get_by_index() and
> rtnl_fill_ifinfo() entirely under rtnl_lock, so it could not race with
> macvlan_uninit().
>
> [1]:
> '''
> BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in macvlan_fill_info drivers/net/macvlan.c:1740
>
> Call Trace:
> <TASK>
> macvlan_fill_info+0x681/0x750 drivers/net/macvlan.c:1740
> rtnl_link_info_fill net/core/rtnetlink.c:905 [inline]
> rtnl_link_fill net/core/rtnetlink.c:926 [inline]
> rtnl_fill_ifinfo.isra.0+0x2ba7/0x4d70 net/core/rtnetlink.c:2185
> rtnl_getlink+0x9b7/0xfc0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4280
> rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x80f/0xd60 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7062
> netlink_rcv_skb+0x15f/0x430 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2556
> rtnetlink_rcv+0x21/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7089
> netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline]
> netlink_unicast+0x6ef/0xb50 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345
> netlink_sendmsg+0x8d8/0xd70 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1900
> sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:787 [inline]
>
> Allocated by task 5163:
> macvlan_port_create drivers/net/macvlan.c:1260 [inline]
> macvlan_common_newlink+0x45a/0x1ab0 drivers/net/macvlan.c:1498
> macvlan_newlink+0x2a/0x40 drivers/net/macvlan.c:1596
> rtnl_newlink_create net/core/rtnetlink.c:3905 [inline]
> __rtnl_newlink net/core/rtnetlink.c:4036 [inline]
> rtnl_newlink+0xd38/0x2360 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4151
> rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x80f/0xd60 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7062
> netlink_rcv_skb+0x15f/0x430 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2556
> rtnetlink_rcv+0x21/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7089
> netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline]
> netlink_unicast+0x6ef/0xb50 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345
> netlink_sendmsg+0x8d8/0xd70 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1900
> sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:787 [inline]
>
> Freed by task 5166:
> macvlan_port_destroy+0x3c5/0x630 drivers/net/macvlan.c:1319
> macvlan_uninit+0xf5/0x140 drivers/net/macvlan.c:977
> unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0x108f/0x2140 net/core/dev.c:12454
> unregister_netdevice_many+0x1e/0x30 net/core/dev.c:12496
> macvlan_device_event+0x477/0x880 drivers/net/macvlan.c:1856
> notifier_call_chain+0xb7/0x330 kernel/notifier.c:85
> raw_notifier_call_chain+0x32/0x50 kernel/notifier.c:453
> call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0xa7/0x100 net/core/dev.c:2249
> call_netdevice_notifiers_extack net/core/dev.c:2287 [inline]
> call_netdevice_notifiers net/core/dev.c:2301 [inline]
> unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0xde2/0x2140 net/core/dev.c:12435
> rtnl_delete_link net/core/rtnetlink.c:3593 [inline]
> rtnl_dellink+0x3db/0xaf0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3635
> rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x80f/0xd60 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7062
> netlink_rcv_skb+0x15f/0x430 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2556
> rtnetlink_rcv+0x21/0x40 net/core/rtnetlink.c:7089
> netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 [inline]
> netlink_unicast+0x6ef/0xb50 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1345
> netlink_sendmsg+0x8d8/0xd70 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1900
> sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:787 [inline]
> '''
>
> Fixes: e896e5c0734b ("rtnetlink: do not acquire RTNL in rtnl_getlink() with RTEXT_FILTER_NAME_ONLY")
> Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> drivers/net/macvlan.c | 16 ++++++++++------
> 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/macvlan.c b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
> index c40fa331836b..4ff3a4de972e 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/macvlan.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/macvlan.c
> @@ -975,6 +975,8 @@ static void macvlan_uninit(struct net_device *dev)
> port->count -= 1;
> if (!port->count)
> macvlan_port_destroy(port->dev);
> +
> + vlan->port = NULL;
> }
>
> static void macvlan_dev_get_stats64(struct net_device *dev,
> @@ -1736,12 +1738,14 @@ static int macvlan_fill_info(struct sk_buff *skb,
> }
> if (nla_put_u32(skb, IFLA_MACVLAN_BC_QUEUE_LEN, vlan->bc_queue_len_req))
> goto nla_put_failure;
> - if (nla_put_u32(skb, IFLA_MACVLAN_BC_QUEUE_LEN_USED,
> - READ_ONCE(port->bc_queue_len_used)))
> - goto nla_put_failure;
> - if (port->bc_cutoff != 1 &&
> - nla_put_s32(skb, IFLA_MACVLAN_BC_CUTOFF, port->bc_cutoff))
> - goto nla_put_failure;
> + if (port) {
> + if (nla_put_u32(skb, IFLA_MACVLAN_BC_QUEUE_LEN_USED,
> + READ_ONCE(port->bc_queue_len_used)))
> + goto nla_put_failure;
> + if (port->bc_cutoff != 1 &&
> + nla_put_s32(skb, IFLA_MACVLAN_BC_CUTOFF, port->bc_cutoff))
> + goto nla_put_failure;
> + }
> return 0;
>
> nla_put_failure:
> --
> 2.43.0