KMSAN: use-after-free in sw842_decompress (zswap writeback)
From: dane phillips
Date: Thu Jul 30 2026 - 14:55:16 EST
Hi,
I am running syzkaller on commit 3dab139d4795 and it
reported the use-after-free below. The issue occurs when zswap
writeback decompresses a page that has already been freed by
process exit.
Kernel version: 7.2.0-rc4-00503-g3dab139d4795
Config: CONFIG_KMSAN=y, CONFIG_ZSWAP=y, CONFIG_CRYPTO_842=y
The bug manifests in sw842_decompress accessing memory that was
freed in exit_mmap, while the shrinker is still walking the zswap
pool.
BUG: KMSAN: use-after-free in sw842_decompress+0x11c8/0x1750
lib/842/842_decompress.c:303
sw842_decompress+0x11c8/0x1750 lib/842/842_decompress.c:303
crypto842_sdecompress+0x46/0x60 crypto/842.c:53
scomp_acomp_comp_decomp+0xa49/0x1120 include/crypto/internal/scompress.h:-1
scomp_acomp_decompress+0x30/0x40 crypto/scompress.c:283
crypto_acomp_decompress+0x5c4/0xe50 crypto/acompress.c:297
zswap_decompress+0x4ba/0xcc0 mm/zswap.c:952
zswap_writeback_entry mm/zswap.c:1032 [inline]
shrink_memcg_cb+0x78f/0xda0 mm/zswap.c:1147
__list_lru_walk_one+0x49a/0xde0 mm/list_lru.c:362
list_lru_walk_one+0x5c/0x70 mm/list_lru.c:399
list_lru_shrink_walk include/linux/list_lru.h:332 [inline]
zswap_shrinker_scan+0x11f/0x290 mm/zswap.c:1181
do_shrink_slab+0x736/0x1460 mm/shrinker.c:443
shrink_slab_memcg mm/shrinker.c:560 [inline]
shrink_slab+0xb70/0x14c0 mm/shrinker.c:638
shrink_one+0x560/0xc10 mm/vmscan.c:5026
shrink_many mm/vmscan.c:5087 [inline]
lru_gen_shrink_node mm/vmscan.c:5165 [inline]
shrink_node+0x47a5/0x5b70 mm/vmscan.c:6154
kswapd_shrink_node mm/vmscan.c:7008 [inline]
balance_pgdat mm/vmscan.c:7186 [inline]
kswapd+0x3029/0x5a50 mm/vmscan.c:7462
kthread+0x53f/0x600 kernel/kthread.c:436
ret_from_fork+0x20f/0x8d0 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
Uninit was stored to memory at:
sw842_decompress+0x11c1/0x1750 lib/842/842_decompress.c:303
crypto842_sdecompress+0x46/0x60 crypto/842.c:53
scomp_acomp_comp_decomp+0xa49/0x1120 include/crypto/internal/scompress.h:-1
scomp_acomp_decompress+0x30/0x40 crypto/scompress.c:283
crypto_acomp_decompress+0x5c4/0xe50 crypto/acompress.c:297
zswap_decompress+0x4ba/0xcc0 mm/zswap.c:952
zswap_writeback_entry mm/zswap.c:1032 [inline]
shrink_memcg_cb+0x78f/0xda0 mm/zswap.c:1147
__list_lru_walk_one+0x49a/0xde0 mm/list_lru.c:362
list_lru_walk_one+0x5c/0x70 mm/list_lru.c:399
list_lru_shrink_walk include/linux/list_lru.h:332 [inline]
zswap_shrinker_scan+0x11f/0x290 mm/zswap.c:1181
do_shrink_slab+0x736/0x1460 mm/shrinker.c:443
shrink_slab_memcg mm/shrinker.c:560 [inline]
shrink_slab+0xb70/0x14c0 mm/shrinker.c:638
shrink_one+0x560/0xc10 mm/vmscan.c:5026
shrink_many mm/vmscan.c:5087 [inline]
lru_gen_shrink_node mm/vmscan.c:5165 [inline]
shrink_node+0x47a5/0x5b70 mm/vmscan.c:6154
kswapd_shrink_node mm/vmscan.c:7008 [inline]
balance_pgdat mm/vmscan.c:7186 [inline]
kswapd+0x3029/0x5a50 mm/vmscan.c:7462
kthread+0x53f/0x600 kernel/kthread.c:436
ret_from_fork+0x20f/0x8d0 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
Uninit was stored to memory at:
next_bits+0xac2/0xda0 lib/842/842_decompress.c:118
sw842_decompress+0x1a6/0x1750 lib/842/842_decompress.c:297
crypto842_sdecompress+0x46/0x60 crypto/842.c:53
scomp_acomp_comp_decomp+0xa49/0x1120 include/crypto/internal/scompress.h:-1
scomp_acomp_decompress+0x30/0x40 crypto/scompress.c:283
crypto_acomp_decompress+0x5c4/0xe50 crypto/acompress.c:297
zswap_decompress+0x4ba/0xcc0 mm/zswap.c:952
zswap_writeback_entry mm/zswap.c:1032 [inline]
shrink_memcg_cb+0x78f/0xda0 mm/zswap.c:1147
__list_lru_walk_one+0x49a/0xde0 mm/list_lru.c:362
list_lru_walk_one+0x5c/0x70 mm/list_lru.c:399
list_lru_shrink_walk include/linux/list_lru.h:332 [inline]
zswap_shrinker_scan+0x11f/0x290 mm/zswap.c:1181
do_shrink_slab+0x736/0x1460 mm/shrinker.c:443
shrink_slab_memcg mm/shrinker.c:560 [inline]
shrink_slab+0xb70/0x14c0 mm/shrinker.c:638
shrink_one+0x560/0xc10 mm/vmscan.c:5026
shrink_many mm/vmscan.c:5087 [inline]
lru_gen_shrink_node mm/vmscan.c:5165 [inline]
shrink_node+0x47a5/0x5b70 mm/vmscan.c:6154
kswapd_shrink_node mm/vmscan.c:7008 [inline]
balance_pgdat mm/vmscan.c:7186 [inline]
kswapd+0x3029/0x5a50 mm/vmscan.c:7462
kthread+0x53f/0x600 kernel/kthread.c:436
ret_from_fork+0x20f/0x8d0 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
Uninit was created at:
__free_pages_prepare mm/page_alloc.c:1327 [inline]
free_unref_folios+0x280/0x2880 mm/page_alloc.c:3011
folios_put_refs+0xb2e/0xba0 mm/swap.c:1057
free_pages_and_swap_cache+0x804/0x840 mm/swap_state.c:589
__tlb_batch_free_encoded_pages mm/mmu_gather.c:138 [inline]
tlb_batch_pages_flush mm/mmu_gather.c:151 [inline]
tlb_flush_mmu_free mm/mmu_gather.c:417 [inline]
tlb_flush_mmu+0x92b/0xe90 mm/mmu_gather.c:424
zap_pte_range mm/memory.c:1973 [inline]
zap_pmd_range mm/memory.c:2020 [inline]
zap_pud_range mm/memory.c:2048 [inline]
zap_p4d_range mm/memory.c:2069 [inline]
__zap_vma_range+0x763f/0x9340 mm/memory.c:2109
unmap_vmas+0x440/0x800 mm/memory.c:2178
exit_mmap+0x27c/0xac0 mm/mmap.c:1300
__mmput+0x134/0x650 kernel/fork.c:1187
mmput+0x74/0x90 kernel/fork.c:1210
exit_mm+0x2b1/0x4b0 kernel/exit.c:615
do_exit+0x9a9/0x3c30 kernel/exit.c:997
do_group_exit+0x258/0x390 kernel/exit.c:1152
__do_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1163 [inline]
__se_sys_exit_group kernel/exit.c:1161 [inline]
__x64_sys_exit_group+0x35/0x40 kernel/exit.c:1161
x64_sys_call+0x3e6d/0x3ea0 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:232
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x15d/0x3c0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 81 Comm: kswapd0 Tainted: G W
7.2.0-rc4-00503-g3dab139d4795 #9 PREEMPT(lazy)
Tainted: [W]=WARN
Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 26.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS
1.17.0-debian-1.17.0-1ubuntu1 04/01/2014
=====================================================
The full syzkaller log is available if needed. I do not yet have a
reliable reproducer.
Thanks,
Dane Phillips