[PATCH nf] netfilter: ipset: fix race between dump and ip_set_list resize

From: Xiang Mei

Date: Wed Jun 24 2026 - 21:00:16 EST


The release path of ip_set_dump_do() and ip_set_dump_done() read
inst->ip_set_list via ip_set_ref_netlink(), a plain rcu_dereference_raw()
of the array pointer. These run from netlink_recvmsg() without the nfnl
mutex and without an RCU read-side critical section.

A concurrent ip_set_create() can grow the array: it publishes the new
array, calls synchronize_net() and then kvfree()s the old one. Since the
dump paths read the array outside any RCU reader, synchronize_net() does
not wait for them and the old array can be freed while they still index
into it, causing a use-after-free.

The dumped set itself stays pinned via set->ref_netlink, so only the
array load needs protecting. Take rcu_read_lock() around it, matching
ip_set_get_byname() and __ip_set_put_byindex().

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ip_set_dump_do (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c:1697)
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88800b5c4018 by task exploit/150
Call Trace:
...
kasan_report (mm/kasan/report.c:595)
ip_set_dump_do (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c:1697)
netlink_dump (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2325)
netlink_recvmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1976)
sock_recvmsg (net/socket.c:1159)
__sys_recvfrom (net/socket.c:2315)
...
Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address ... KASAN NOPTI
KASAN: maybe wild-memory-access in range [0x02d6...d0-0x02d6...d7]
RIP: 0010:ip_set_dump_do (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c:1698)
Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception

Fixes: 8a02bdd50b2e ("netfilter: ipset: Fix calling ip_set() macro at dumping")
Reported-by: Weiming Shi <bestswngs@xxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8
Signed-off-by: Xiang Mei <xmei5@xxxxxxx>
---
net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c | 8 +++++++-
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c b/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c
index a531b654b8d9..6cfad152d7d1 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c
@@ -1480,7 +1480,11 @@ ip_set_dump_done(struct netlink_callback *cb)
struct ip_set_net *inst =
(struct ip_set_net *)cb->args[IPSET_CB_NET];
ip_set_id_t index = (ip_set_id_t)cb->args[IPSET_CB_INDEX];
- struct ip_set *set = ip_set_ref_netlink(inst, index);
+ struct ip_set *set;
+
+ rcu_read_lock();
+ set = ip_set_ref_netlink(inst, index);
+ rcu_read_unlock();

if (set->variant->uref)
set->variant->uref(set, cb, false);
@@ -1686,7 +1690,9 @@ ip_set_dump_do(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb)
release_refcount:
/* If there was an error or set is done, release set */
if (ret || !cb->args[IPSET_CB_ARG0]) {
+ rcu_read_lock();
set = ip_set_ref_netlink(inst, index);
+ rcu_read_unlock();
if (set->variant->uref)
set->variant->uref(set, cb, false);
pr_debug("release set %s\n", set->name);
--
2.43.0