[PATCH] interconnect: Fix use after free in icc_get() and of_icc_get_by_index()

From: Kuan-Wei Chiu

Date: Thu Apr 16 2026 - 15:11:47 EST


In of_icc_get_by_index() and icc_get(), if the dynamic allocation for
path->name fails via kasprintf(), the error handling path directly
calls kfree(path) to free the path object and returns an error.

However, prior to this point, path_find() calls path_init(), which
already links the path's requests into the req_list of the respective
interconnect nodes via hlist_add_head(). Directly invoking kfree(path)
leaves dangling pointers in the hlist. A subsequent call to icc_get()
or icc_set_bw() will traverse or modify these corrupted lists, triggering
a slab use afterfree.

KASAN report showing the vulnerability when reproducing via debugfs:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in path_find+0x6f8/0xcfc
Write of size 8 at addr fff000000d43f748 by task sh/1
...
Call trace:
kasan_report+0xac/0xfc
path_find+0x6f8/0xcfc
icc_get+0x148/0x380
icc_get_set+0xf8/0x2d0
...
Freed by task 1:
kfree+0x1a0/0x4a4
icc_get+0x2cc/0x380
icc_get_set+0xf8/0x2d0

Fix this by replacing kfree(path) with the proper teardown function,
icc_put(path), which safely removes the requests from the req_list using
hlist_del() and drops the provider usage references before freeing the
memory.

Additionally, in icc_get(), ensure that the icc_lock mutex is released
prior to calling icc_put(path) to avoid a deadlock, as icc_put()
internally acquires the same lock.

Fixes: 3791163602f7 ("interconnect: Handle memory allocation errors")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Kuan-Wei Chiu <visitorckw@xxxxxxxxx>
---
I discovered this bug while reviewing Krzysztof's patch [1].
To verify my hypothesis, I injected an artificial kasprintf() failure
into the source code and wrote a minimal dummy icc provider module.
This allowed me to successfully trigger the use after free via the
debugfs client and catch it with KASAN, confirming the issue.

[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260416130912.375013-2-krzysztof.kozlowski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

drivers/interconnect/core.c | 7 ++++---
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/interconnect/core.c b/drivers/interconnect/core.c
index 8569b78a1851..e14280ced381 100644
--- a/drivers/interconnect/core.c
+++ b/drivers/interconnect/core.c
@@ -528,7 +528,7 @@ struct icc_path *of_icc_get_by_index(struct device *dev, int idx)
path->name = kasprintf(GFP_KERNEL, "%s-%s",
src_data->node->name, dst_data->node->name);
if (!path->name) {
- kfree(path);
+ icc_put(path);
path = ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
}

@@ -626,8 +626,9 @@ struct icc_path *icc_get(struct device *dev, const char *src, const char *dst)

path->name = kasprintf(GFP_KERNEL, "%s-%s", src_node->name, dst_node->name);
if (!path->name) {
- kfree(path);
- path = ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+ mutex_unlock(&icc_lock);
+ icc_put(path);
+ return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
}
out:
mutex_unlock(&icc_lock);
--
2.54.0.rc1.555.g9c883467ad-goog