[for-linus][PATCH 2/3] tracing: Fix memory leaks in create_field_var()

From: Steven Rostedt

Date: Fri Nov 07 2025 - 08:07:57 EST


From: Zilin Guan <zilin@xxxxxxxxxx>

The function create_field_var() allocates memory for 'val' through
create_hist_field() inside parse_atom(), and for 'var' through
create_var(), which in turn allocates var->type and var->var.name
internally. Simply calling kfree() to release these structures will
result in memory leaks.

Use destroy_hist_field() to properly free 'val', and explicitly release
the memory of var->type and var->var.name before freeing 'var' itself.

Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251106120132.3639920-1-zilin@xxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: 02205a6752f22 ("tracing: Add support for 'field variables'")
Signed-off-by: Zilin Guan <zilin@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c | 6 ++++--
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
index 1d536219b624..6bfaf1210dd2 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
@@ -3272,14 +3272,16 @@ static struct field_var *create_field_var(struct hist_trigger_data *hist_data,
var = create_var(hist_data, file, field_name, val->size, val->type);
if (IS_ERR(var)) {
hist_err(tr, HIST_ERR_VAR_CREATE_FIND_FAIL, errpos(field_name));
- kfree(val);
+ destroy_hist_field(val, 0);
ret = PTR_ERR(var);
goto err;
}

field_var = kzalloc(sizeof(struct field_var), GFP_KERNEL);
if (!field_var) {
- kfree(val);
+ destroy_hist_field(val, 0);
+ kfree_const(var->type);
+ kfree(var->var.name);
kfree(var);
ret = -ENOMEM;
goto err;
--
2.51.0