[PATCH v2] posix-timers: Fix potential memory leak in do_timer_create()
From: Eslam Khafagy
Date: Fri Nov 14 2025 - 07:27:45 EST
potential memory leak may happen if user space pointer created_timer_id
is invallid. or the value it points to is invalid. the call will
prematurely return.
However it doesn't free the memory it allocates with
alloc_posix_timer(). This patch attempts to fix that by moving parameter
check before alloc_posix_timer().
Reported-by: syzbot+9c47ad18f978d4394986@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/69155df4.a70a0220.3124cb.0017.GAE@xxxxxxxxxx/T/
Fixes: ec2d0c04624b3 ("posix-timers: Provide a mechanism to allocate a given timer ID")
Suggested-by: Cyrill Gorcunov <gorcunov@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Eslam Khafagy <eslam.medhat1993@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v2:
* Move parameters check before new timer allocation, no need for new
code.
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251114050621.875131-1-eslam.medhat1993@xxxxxxxxx/T/
---
kernel/time/posix-timers.c | 12 ++++++------
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
index aa3120104a51..56e17b625c72 100644
--- a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
+++ b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
@@ -475,12 +475,6 @@ static int do_timer_create(clockid_t which_clock, struct sigevent *event,
if (!kc->timer_create)
return -EOPNOTSUPP;
- new_timer = alloc_posix_timer();
- if (unlikely(!new_timer))
- return -EAGAIN;
-
- spin_lock_init(&new_timer->it_lock);
-
/* Special case for CRIU to restore timers with a given timer ID. */
if (unlikely(current->signal->timer_create_restore_ids)) {
if (copy_from_user(&req_id, created_timer_id, sizeof(req_id)))
@@ -490,6 +484,12 @@ static int do_timer_create(clockid_t which_clock, struct sigevent *event,
return -EINVAL;
}
+ new_timer = alloc_posix_timer();
+ if (unlikely(!new_timer))
+ return -EAGAIN;
+
+ spin_lock_init(&new_timer->it_lock);
+
/*
* Add the timer to the hash table. The timer is not yet valid
* after insertion, but has a unique ID allocated.
--
2.43.0