Re: [PATCH bpf v3] bpf: fix NULL pointer dereference in bpf_task_from_vpid()

[Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi]

On Sat Jun 6, 2026 at 11:19 AM CEST, Sechang Lim wrote:
> bpf_task_from_vpid() looks up a task in the pid namespace of the
> current task, via find_task_by_vpid():
>
>   find_task_by_vpid(vpid)
>     find_task_by_pid_ns(vpid, task_active_pid_ns(current))
>       find_pid_ns(nr, ns) -> idr_find(&ns->idr, nr)
>
> cgroup_skb programs run in softirq, which may interrupt a task that is
> itself in do_exit(). Once that task has passed
> exit_notify() -> release_task() -> __unhash_process(), its thread_pid is
> cleared, so task_active_pid_ns(current) returns NULL and find_pid_ns()
> dereferences &NULL->idr:
>
>   BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000050
>   RIP: 0010:idr_find+0x11/0x30 lib/idr.c:176
>   Call Trace:
>    <IRQ>
>    find_pid_ns kernel/pid.c:370 [inline]
>    find_task_by_pid_ns+0x3b/0xe0 kernel/pid.c:485
>    bpf_task_from_vpid+0x5b/0x200 kernel/bpf/helpers.c:2916
>    bpf_prog_run_array_cg+0x17e/0x530 kernel/bpf/cgroup.c:81
>    __cgroup_bpf_run_filter_skb+0x12b/0x250 kernel/bpf/cgroup.c:1612
>    sk_filter_trim_cap+0x1dc/0x4c0 net/core/filter.c:148
>    tcp_v4_rcv+0x18d1/0x2200 net/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c:2223
>    </IRQ>
>    <TASK>
>    do_exit+0xa63/0x1270 kernel/exit.c:1010
>    get_signal+0x141c/0x1530 kernel/signal.c:3037
>
> Return NULL when bpf_task_from_vpid() runs in interrupt
> context, or when current has no pid namespace.
>
> Acked-by: Yonghong Song <yonghong.song@xxxxxxxxx>
> Fixes: 675c3596ff32 ("bpf: Add bpf_task_from_vpid() kfunc")
> Signed-off-by: Sechang Lim <rhkrqnwk98@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> v3:
>  - Also handle current with no pid namespace
>
> v2:
>  - Reject calls from interrupt context (Yonghong Song)
>  - https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260605200501.1619406-1-rhkrqnwk98@xxxxxxxxx/
>
> v1:
>  - https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260603204206.773482-1-rhkrqnwk98@xxxxxxxxx/
>
>  kernel/bpf/helpers.c | 7 +++++++
>  1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/kernel/bpf/helpers.c b/kernel/bpf/helpers.c
> index b5314c9fed3c..226c31ccb5d6 100644
> --- a/kernel/bpf/helpers.c
> +++ b/kernel/bpf/helpers.c
> @@ -2912,7 +2912,14 @@ __bpf_kfunc struct task_struct *bpf_task_from_vpid(s32 vpid)
>  {
>  	struct task_struct *p;
>
> +	if (in_interrupt())
> +		return NULL;
> +

This seems too broad, I would just drop this hunk. It seems unrelated to the fix.
IIUC we only need the bit below to prevent the original NULL deref.

pw-bot: cr

>  	rcu_read_lock();
> +	if (!task_active_pid_ns(current)) {
> +		rcu_read_unlock();
> +		return NULL;
> +	}
>  	p = find_task_by_vpid(vpid);
>  	if (p)
>  		p = bpf_task_acquire(p);