[PATCH bpf v5] bpf, cgroup: Fix storage null-ptr-deref after replacing prog

From: Pu Lehui

Date: Tue Aug 04 2026 - 23:49:38 EST


From: Pu Lehui <pulehui@xxxxxxxxxx>

Syzkaller reported a storage null-ptr-deref issue after replacing prog.
This occurs in the following scenario:
1. prog A, an empty prog, is attached to a cgrp.
2. prog B uses BPF_MAP_TYPE_PERCPU_CGROUP_STORAGE and calls the
bpf_get_local_storage helper.
3. link_update is called to replace prog A with prog B.

The reason is that __cgroup_bpf_replace fails to alloc and assign the
required cgrp storage for the incoming replacement prog. Consequently,
the new prog inherits an uninit storage, leading to null-ptr-deref panic
when kick the new prog.

Fix this by rejecting link update with -EPERM if new_prog's cgroup
storage is incompatible with link->prog.

Fixes: 0c991ebc8c69 ("bpf: Implement bpf_prog replacement for an active bpf_cgroup_link")
Reviewed-by: Amery Hung <ameryhung@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Pu Lehui <pulehui@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
v5:
- Reject link update if new_prog's storage is incompatible with link->prog. (Andrii)

v4: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260728133058.2858367-1-pulehui@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Extract the fix for __cgroup_bpf_attach() into a standalone patch [0].
- Add Reviewed-by tag by Amery.
- Separate from patchset [1]. (Andrii)

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260728132336.2857800-1-pulehui@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [0]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/f87b53c0-8f00-45a6-82db-8242fa9b143f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [1]

v3: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260720134547.1289964-5-pulehui@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Include the storage and flags rollbacks to patch4 for sake of code rigor,
as it's hard to make update_effective_progs fail in __cgroup_bpf_attach.

v2: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260717073343.958862-1-pulehui@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Fix invalid access for in-place update when storage changed. (Sashiko)

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20260714014659.401063-1-pulehui@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

kernel/bpf/cgroup.c | 17 +++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/bpf/cgroup.c b/kernel/bpf/cgroup.c
index 57fd1d784e44..31c63ff276fa 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/cgroup.c
@@ -1026,6 +1026,20 @@ static void replace_effective_prog(struct cgroup *cgrp,
}
}

+static bool cgroup_bpf_storages_compatible(struct bpf_prog *old_prog,
+ struct bpf_prog *new_prog)
+{
+ enum bpf_cgroup_storage_type stype;
+
+ for_each_cgroup_storage_type(stype) {
+ if (old_prog->aux->cgroup_storage[stype] !=
+ new_prog->aux->cgroup_storage[stype])
+ return false;
+ }
+
+ return true;
+}
+
/**
* __cgroup_bpf_replace() - Replace link's program and propagate the change
* to descendants
@@ -1064,6 +1078,9 @@ static int __cgroup_bpf_replace(struct cgroup *cgrp,
if (!found)
return -ENOENT;

+ if (!cgroup_bpf_storages_compatible(link->link.prog, new_prog))
+ return -EINVAL;
+
cgrp->bpf.revisions[atype] += 1;
old_prog = xchg(&link->link.prog, new_prog);
replace_effective_prog(cgrp, atype, pl);
--
2.34.1