[PATCH net v4] psp: fix NULL genl_sock deref race with concurrent netns teardown

From: Kiran Kella

Date: Mon Jul 27 2026 - 06:22:41 EST


The race occurs between network namespace removal and PSP device
unregistration. When a netns is deleted while a PSP device associated
with that netns is concurrently being removed, psp_dev_unregister()
triggers psp_nl_notify_dev() to send a device change notification.
Concurrently, cleanup_net() running in the netns workqueue calls
genl_pernet_exit(), which sets net->genl_sock to NULL. If
genl_pernet_exit() wins the race, two sites in psp_nl_multicast_per_ns()
then dereference the NULL socket and crash:

CPU 0 (netns teardown) CPU 1 (PSP device unregister)
====================== =============================
cleanup_net [workqueue]
genl_pernet_exit() psp_dev_unregister()
net->genl_sock = NULL psp_nl_notify_dev()
psp_nl_multicast_per_ns()
build_ntf()
-> netlink_has_listeners(NULL)
/* crash */
genlmsg_multicast_netns()
-> nlmsg_multicast_filtered(NULL)
/* crash */

Fix by replacing the bare dev_net() calls with maybe_get_net().
maybe_get_net() returns NULL if the namespace is already dying.
Holding the reference ensures genl_sock remains valid across both the
build_ntf() and genlmsg_multicast_netns() calls.

Fixes: 00c94ca2b99e ("psp: base PSP device support")
Fixes: 06c2dce2d0f6 ("psp: add new netlink cmd for dev-assoc and dev-disassoc")
Reviewed-by: Ajit Khaparde <ajit.khaparde@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Vikas Gupta <vikas.gupta@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Bhargava Marreddy <bhargava.marreddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Akhilesh Samineni <akhilesh.samineni@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Kiran Kella <kiran.kella@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
v4:
Fixes done based on feedback from Jakub Kicinski
- maybe_get_net() logic removed for assoc_dev_list
- Added RCU protection on main netns before invoking maybe_get_net()

v3:
Fixed typo in the commit log
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260715110701.3775026-1-kiran.kella@xxxxxxxxxxxx/

v2:
get rid of the extra struct net *net, by doing
(!maybe_get_net(assoc_net)) directly (as suggested by Daniel Zahka)
https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260707185937.3177211-1-kiran.kella@xxxxxxxxxxxx/

v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260703112431.2860506-1-kiran.kella@xxxxxxxxxxxx/

net/psp/psp_nl.c | 17 ++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/psp/psp_nl.c b/net/psp/psp_nl.c
index 9610d8c456ff..43b066353c65 100644
--- a/net/psp/psp_nl.c
+++ b/net/psp/psp_nl.c
@@ -62,7 +62,14 @@ psp_nl_multicast_per_ns(struct psp_dev *psd, unsigned int group,
struct net *main_net;
struct sk_buff *ntf;

- main_net = dev_net(psd->main_netdev);
+ /* device may be changing netns in parallel */
+ rcu_read_lock();
+ main_net = maybe_get_net(dev_net_rcu(psd->main_netdev));
+ rcu_read_unlock();
+
+ if (!main_net)
+ return;
+
xa_init(&sent_nets);

list_for_each_entry(entry, &psd->assoc_dev_list, dev_list) {
@@ -88,10 +95,10 @@ psp_nl_multicast_per_ns(struct psp_dev *psd, unsigned int group,

/* Send to main device netns */
ntf = build_ntf(psd, main_net, ctx);
- if (!ntf)
- return;
- genlmsg_multicast_netns(&psp_nl_family, main_net, ntf, 0, group,
- GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (ntf)
+ genlmsg_multicast_netns(&psp_nl_family, main_net, ntf, 0, group,
+ GFP_KERNEL);
+ put_net(main_net);
}

static struct sk_buff *psp_nl_clone_ntf(struct psp_dev *psd, struct net *net,
--
2.54.0