Re: [PATCH net] iavf: fix PTP use-after-free during reset

From: Ivan Vecera

Date: Thu Jan 29 2026 - 06:12:28 EST


On 1/29/26 10:57 AM, Petr Oros wrote:
Commit 7c01dbfc8a1c5f ("iavf: periodically cache PHC time") introduced a
worker to cache PHC time, but failed to stop it during reset or disable.

This creates a race condition where `iavf_reset_task()` or
`iavf_disable_vf()` free adapter resources (AQ) while the worker is still
running. If the worker triggers `iavf_queue_ptp_cmd()` during teardown, it
accesses freed memory/locks, leading to a crash.

Fix this by calling `iavf_ptp_release()` before tearing down the adapter.
This ensures `ptp_clock_unregister()` synchronously cancels the worker and
cleans up the chardev before the backing resources are destroyed.

Fixes: 7c01dbfc8a1c5f ("iavf: periodically cache PHC time")
Signed-off-by: Petr Oros <poros@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_main.c | 4 ++++
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_main.c
index 4b0fc8f354bc90..0dd58ce5a53ab1 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_main.c
@@ -3025,6 +3025,8 @@ static void iavf_disable_vf(struct iavf_adapter *adapter)
adapter->flags |= IAVF_FLAG_PF_COMMS_FAILED;
+ iavf_ptp_release(adapter);
+
/* We don't use netif_running() because it may be true prior to
* ndo_open() returning, so we can't assume it means all our open
* tasks have finished, since we're not holding the rtnl_lock here.
@@ -3200,6 +3202,8 @@ static void iavf_reset_task(struct work_struct *work)
iavf_change_state(adapter, __IAVF_RESETTING);
adapter->flags &= ~IAVF_FLAG_RESET_PENDING;
+ iavf_ptp_release(adapter);
+
/* free the Tx/Rx rings and descriptors, might be better to just
* re-use them sometime in the future
*/

Reviewed-by: Ivan Vecera <ivecera@xxxxxxxxxx>