[PATCH] crash_dump: release keyring reference at the correct time
From: Guangshuo Li
Date: Wed Jun 03 2026 - 10:07:33 EST
restore_dm_crypt_keys_to_thread_keyring() gets a reference to the user
keyring before restoring the saved dm-crypt keys.
The same keyring reference is then passed to add_key_to_keyring() for each
saved key, but add_key_to_keyring() drops that reference on every call.
This is only balanced when exactly one key is restored. With multiple
keys, the keyring reference is dropped too many times and may trigger a
refcount underflow or use-after-free.
The early error paths after lookup_user_key() also return without dropping
the keyring reference.
Keep ownership of the keyring reference in
restore_dm_crypt_keys_to_thread_keyring(), drop it once on all exit paths,
and make add_key_to_keyring() only use the reference without consuming it.
Fixes: 62f17d9df692 ("crash_dump: retrieve dm crypt keys in kdump kernel")
Signed-off-by: Guangshuo Li <lgs201920130244@xxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/crash_dump_dm_crypt.c | 15 ++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/crash_dump_dm_crypt.c b/kernel/crash_dump_dm_crypt.c
index a20d4097744a..641c290f1270 100644
--- a/kernel/crash_dump_dm_crypt.c
+++ b/kernel/crash_dump_dm_crypt.c
@@ -80,7 +80,6 @@ static int add_key_to_keyring(struct dm_crypt_key *dm_key,
kexec_dprintk("Error when adding key");
}
- key_ref_put(keyring_ref);
return r;
}
@@ -104,6 +103,7 @@ static int restore_dm_crypt_keys_to_thread_keyring(void)
size_t keys_header_size;
key_ref_t keyring_ref;
u64 addr;
+ int ret = 0;
/* find the target keyring (which must be writable) */
keyring_ref =
@@ -117,7 +117,8 @@ static int restore_dm_crypt_keys_to_thread_keyring(void)
dm_crypt_keys_read((char *)&key_count, sizeof(key_count), &addr);
if (key_count < 0 || key_count > KEY_NUM_MAX) {
kexec_dprintk("Failed to read the number of dm-crypt keys\n");
- return -1;
+ ret = -1;
+ goto out;
}
kexec_dprintk("There are %u keys\n", key_count);
@@ -125,8 +126,10 @@ static int restore_dm_crypt_keys_to_thread_keyring(void)
keys_header_size = get_keys_header_size(key_count);
keys_header = kzalloc(keys_header_size, GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!keys_header)
- return -ENOMEM;
+ if (!keys_header) {
+ ret = -ENOMEM;
+ goto out;
+ }
dm_crypt_keys_read((char *)keys_header, keys_header_size, &addr);
@@ -136,7 +139,9 @@ static int restore_dm_crypt_keys_to_thread_keyring(void)
add_key_to_keyring(key, keyring_ref);
}
- return 0;
+out:
+ key_ref_put(keyring_ref);
+ return ret;
}
static int read_key_from_user_keying(struct dm_crypt_key *dm_key)
--
2.43.0