[PATCH] params: serialize lookup_or_create_module_kobject()
From: Jiakai Xu
Date: Thu Sep 17 2026 - 21:35:10 EST
lookup_or_create_module_kobject() first looks up the module kobject with
kset_find_obj() and, if not found, creates a new one with
kobject_init_and_add(). The function is called at runtime from
module_add_driver() since commit f95bbfe18512 ("drivers: base: handle
module_kobject creation"), which means two concurrent driver
registrations for the same built-in module name can both miss the
lookup and race to create the same kobject.
The loser of the race gets -EEXIST from kobject_init_and_add() and its
kobject is removed from module_kset by kobject_add_internal() before
the failure is reported. The error path then calls kobject_put(),
which invokes module_kobj_release(), but that only completes
->kobj_completion and never frees the dynamically allocated
module_kobject, leaking it (96 bytes) along with the object having been
detached from the kset.
This is triggerable by unprivileged users, e.g. by concurrently issuing
the RAW_IOCTL_INIT ioctl of the raw-gadget driver, which registers the
"raw_gadget" driver on the gadget bus:
sysfs: cannot create duplicate filename '/module/raw_gadget'
...
Adding module 'raw_gadget' to sysfs failed (-17), the system may be
unstable.
...
unreferenced object 0xffff8880188dacc0 (size 96):
backtrace:
lookup_or_create_module_kobject+0x47/0x100
module_add_driver+0x73/0x1b0
bus_add_driver+0x1d9/0x340
driver_register+0xde/0x170
Fix it by serializing the lookup and the creation with a mutex, so that
the second caller finds the kobject created by the first one instead of
racing with it.
Fixes: f95bbfe18512 ("drivers: base: handle module_kobject creation")
Fixes: 7c76c813cfc4 ("kernel: globalize lookup_or_create_module_kobject()")
Signed-off-by: Jiakai Xu <xujiakai24@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/params.c | 29 ++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/params.c b/kernel/params.c
index 8b25133fed242..78f00d3f6a165 100644
--- a/kernel/params.c
+++ b/kernel/params.c
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@
/* Protects all built-in parameters, modules use their own param_lock */
static DEFINE_MUTEX(param_lock);
+/* Serializes module kobject lookup and creation in
+ * lookup_or_create_module_kobject()
+ */
+static DEFINE_MUTEX(mod_kobject_mutex);
+
/* Use the module's mutex, or if built-in use the built-in mutex */
#ifdef CONFIG_MODULES
#define KPARAM_MUTEX(mod) ((mod) ? &(mod)->param_lock : ¶m_lock)
@@ -754,13 +759,24 @@ lookup_or_create_module_kobject(const char *name)
struct kobject *kobj;
int err;
+ /*
+ * The lookup and the creation must be done atomically, otherwise
+ * concurrent callers may race to create the same kobject, and the
+ * loser of the race gets -EEXIST from kobject_init_and_add().
+ */
+ mutex_lock(&mod_kobject_mutex);
+
kobj = kset_find_obj(module_kset, name);
- if (kobj)
- return to_module_kobject(kobj);
+ if (kobj) {
+ mk = to_module_kobject(kobj);
+ goto out;
+ }
mk = kzalloc_obj(struct module_kobject);
- if (!mk)
- return NULL;
+ if (!mk) {
+ mk = NULL;
+ goto out;
+ }
mk->mod = THIS_MODULE;
mk->kobj.kset = module_kset;
@@ -771,12 +787,15 @@ lookup_or_create_module_kobject(const char *name)
kobject_put(&mk->kobj);
pr_crit("Adding module '%s' to sysfs failed (%d), the system may be unstable.\n",
name, err);
- return NULL;
+ mk = NULL;
+ goto out;
}
/* So that we hold reference in both cases. */
kobject_get(&mk->kobj);
+out:
+ mutex_unlock(&mod_kobject_mutex);
return mk;
}
--
2.34.1
--
Below is the crash report:
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff8880188dacc0 (size 96):
comm "syz.3.569", pid 12998, jiffies 4294992047
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
12 4e fe 86 ff ff ff ff c8 ac 8d 18 80 88 ff ff .N..............
c8 ac 8d 18 80 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
backtrace (crc 8dccd85e):
kmemleak_alloc_recursive home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline]
slab_post_alloc_hook home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/mm/slub.c:4696 [inline]
slab_alloc_node home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/mm/slub.c:4996 [inline]
__kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x1bf/0x420 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/mm/slub.c:5559
_kmalloc_noprof home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/include/linux/slab.h:991 [inline]
_kzalloc_noprof home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/include/linux/slab.h:1312 [inline]
lookup_or_create_module_kobject+0x47/0x100 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/kernel/params.c:761
module_add_driver+0x73/0x1b0 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/drivers/base/module.c:46
bus_add_driver+0x1d9/0x340 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/drivers/base/bus.c:767
driver_register+0xde/0x170 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/drivers/base/driver.c:174
usb_gadget_register_driver_owner+0x50/0x140 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/drivers/usb/gadget/udc/core.c:1752
raw_ioctl_run home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/drivers/usb/gadget/legacy/raw_gadget.c:596 [inline]
raw_ioctl+0xa26/0x1830 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/drivers/usb/gadget/legacy/raw_gadget.c:1307
vfs_ioctl home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
__do_sys_ioctl home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
__se_sys_ioctl+0xbc/0x130 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/fs/ioctl.c:583
do_syscall_x64 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x12b/0x350 home/zzzrrll/tmp/kf_src/linux-7.3-rc2/arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< tail report >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
---