[PATCH v2] perf/core: Fix refcount bug and potential UAF in perf_mmap
From: yuhaocheng035
Date: Fri Mar 06 2026 - 04:36:42 EST
From: Haocheng Yu <yuhaocheng035@xxxxxxxxx>
Syzkaller reported a refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free warning
in perf_mmap.
The issue is caused by a race condition between a failing mmap() setup
and a concurrent mmap() on a dependent event (e.g., using output
redirection).
In perf_mmap(), the ring_buffer (rb) is allocated and assigned to
event->rb with the mmap_mutex held. The mutex is then released to
perform map_range().
If map_range() fails, perf_mmap_close() is called to clean up.
However, since the mutex was dropped, another thread attaching to
this event (via inherited events or output redirection) can acquire
the mutex, observe the valid event->rb pointer, and attempt to
increment its reference count. If the cleanup path has already
dropped the reference count to zero, this results in a
use-after-free or refcount saturation warning.
Fix this by extending the scope of mmap_mutex to cover the
map_range() call. This ensures that the ring buffer initialization
and mapping (or cleanup on failure) happens atomically effectively,
preventing other threads from accessing a half-initialized or
dying ring buffer.
v2:
Because expanding the guarded region would cause the event->mmap_mutex
to be acquired repeatedly in the perf_mmap_close function, potentially
leading to a self deadlock, the original logic of perf_mmap_close was
retained, and the mutex-holding logic was modified to obtain the
perf_mmap_close_locked function.
Reported-by: kernel test robot <lkp@xxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/oe-kbuild-all/202602020208.m7KIjdzW-lkp@xxxxxxxxx/
Suggested-by: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Haocheng Yu <yuhaocheng035@xxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/events/core.c | 152 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
1 file changed, 133 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/events/core.c b/kernel/events/core.c
index 2c35acc2722b..6c161761db38 100644
--- a/kernel/events/core.c
+++ b/kernel/events/core.c
@@ -6842,6 +6842,120 @@ static void perf_mmap_close(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
ring_buffer_put(rb); /* could be last */
}
+static void perf_mmap_close_locked(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
+{
+ struct perf_event *event = vma->vm_file->private_data;
+ struct perf_event *iter_event;
+ mapped_f unmapped = get_mapped(event, event_unmapped);
+ struct perf_buffer *rb = ring_buffer_get(event);
+ struct user_struct *mmap_user = rb->mmap_user;
+ int mmap_locked = rb->mmap_locked;
+ unsigned long size = perf_data_size(rb);
+ bool detach_rest = false;
+
+ /* FIXIES vs perf_pmu_unregister() */
+ if (unmapped)
+ unmapped(event, vma->vm_mm);
+
+ /*
+ * The AUX buffer is strictly a sub-buffer, serialize using aux_mutex
+ * to avoid complications.
+ */
+ if (rb_has_aux(rb) && vma->vm_pgoff == rb->aux_pgoff &&
+ refcount_dec_and_mutex_lock(&rb->aux_mmap_count, &rb->aux_mutex)) {
+ /*
+ * Stop all AUX events that are writing to this buffer,
+ * so that we can free its AUX pages and corresponding PMU
+ * data. Note that after rb::aux_mmap_count dropped to zero,
+ * they won't start any more (see perf_aux_output_begin()).
+ */
+ perf_pmu_output_stop(event);
+
+ /* now it's safe to free the pages */
+ atomic_long_sub(rb->aux_nr_pages - rb->aux_mmap_locked, &mmap_user->locked_vm);
+ atomic64_sub(rb->aux_mmap_locked, &vma->vm_mm->pinned_vm);
+
+ /* this has to be the last one */
+ rb_free_aux(rb);
+ WARN_ON_ONCE(refcount_read(&rb->aux_refcount));
+
+ mutex_unlock(&rb->aux_mutex);
+ }
+
+ if (refcount_dec_and_test(&rb->mmap_count))
+ detach_rest = true;
+
+ if (!refcount_dec_and_test(&event->mmap_count))
+ goto out_put;
+
+ ring_buffer_attach(event, NULL);
+
+ /* If there's still other mmap()s of this buffer, we're done. */
+ if (!detach_rest)
+ goto out_put;
+
+ /*
+ * No other mmap()s, detach from all other events that might redirect
+ * into the now unreachable buffer. Somewhat complicated by the
+ * fact that rb::event_lock otherwise nests inside mmap_mutex.
+ */
+again:
+ rcu_read_lock();
+ list_for_each_entry_rcu(iter_event, &rb->event_list, rb_entry) {
+ if (!atomic_long_inc_not_zero(&iter_event->refcount)) {
+ /*
+ * This event is en-route to free_event() which will
+ * detach it and remove it from the list.
+ */
+ continue;
+ }
+ rcu_read_unlock();
+
+ if (iter_event != event) {
+ mutex_lock(&iter_event->mmap_mutex);
+ /*
+ * Check we didn't race with perf_event_set_output() which can
+ * swizzle the rb from under us while we were waiting to
+ * acquire mmap_mutex.
+ *
+ * If we find a different rb; ignore this event, a next
+ * iteration will no longer find it on the list. We have to
+ * still restart the iteration to make sure we're not now
+ * iterating the wrong list.
+ */
+ if (iter_event->rb == rb)
+ ring_buffer_attach(iter_event, NULL);
+
+ mutex_unlock(&iter_event->mmap_mutex);
+ }
+ put_event(iter_event);
+
+ /*
+ * Restart the iteration; either we're on the wrong list or
+ * destroyed its integrity by doing a deletion.
+ */
+ goto again;
+ }
+ rcu_read_unlock();
+
+ /*
+ * It could be there's still a few 0-ref events on the list; they'll
+ * get cleaned up by free_event() -- they'll also still have their
+ * ref on the rb and will free it whenever they are done with it.
+ *
+ * Aside from that, this buffer is 'fully' detached and unmapped,
+ * undo the VM accounting.
+ */
+
+ atomic_long_sub((size >> PAGE_SHIFT) + 1 - mmap_locked,
+ &mmap_user->locked_vm);
+ atomic64_sub(mmap_locked, &vma->vm_mm->pinned_vm);
+ free_uid(mmap_user);
+
+out_put:
+ ring_buffer_put(rb); /* could be last */
+}
+
static vm_fault_t perf_mmap_pfn_mkwrite(struct vm_fault *vmf)
{
/* The first page is the user control page, others are read-only. */
@@ -7167,28 +7281,28 @@ static int perf_mmap(struct file *file, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
ret = perf_mmap_aux(vma, event, nr_pages);
if (ret)
return ret;
- }
- /*
- * Since pinned accounting is per vm we cannot allow fork() to copy our
- * vma.
- */
- vm_flags_set(vma, VM_DONTCOPY | VM_DONTEXPAND | VM_DONTDUMP);
- vma->vm_ops = &perf_mmap_vmops;
+ /*
+ * Since pinned accounting is per vm we cannot allow fork() to copy our
+ * vma.
+ */
+ vm_flags_set(vma, VM_DONTCOPY | VM_DONTEXPAND | VM_DONTDUMP);
+ vma->vm_ops = &perf_mmap_vmops;
- mapped = get_mapped(event, event_mapped);
- if (mapped)
- mapped(event, vma->vm_mm);
+ mapped = get_mapped(event, event_mapped);
+ if (mapped)
+ mapped(event, vma->vm_mm);
- /*
- * Try to map it into the page table. On fail, invoke
- * perf_mmap_close() to undo the above, as the callsite expects
- * full cleanup in this case and therefore does not invoke
- * vmops::close().
- */
- ret = map_range(event->rb, vma);
- if (ret)
- perf_mmap_close(vma);
+ /*
+ * Try to map it into the page table. On fail, invoke
+ * perf_mmap_close() to undo the above, as the callsite expects
+ * full cleanup in this case and therefore does not invoke
+ * vmops::close().
+ */
+ ret = map_range(event->rb, vma);
+ if (ret)
+ perf_mmap_close_locked(vma);
+ }
return ret;
}
base-commit: 7d0a66e4bb9081d75c82ec4957c50034cb0ea449
--
2.51.0