[PATCH v3 09/17] crash: Fix TOCTOU race in crash memory range collection
From: Jinjie Ruan
Date: Wed Aug 26 2026 - 05:31:25 EST
The crash kernel ELF core header construction counts system memory
ranges via `arch_get_system_nr_ranges()`, allocates the crash_mem
buffer, and then populates it via `arch_crash_populate_cmem()`.
This sequence has a time-of-check-to-time-of-use (TOCTOU) race with
memory hotplug: a concurrent hotplug event between the count
and populate steps can increase the number of ranges beyond the allocated
capacity, causing an out-of-bounds write. If the event triggers
memblock_double_array(), the memblock array can be freed and reallocated
during iteration, leading to a use-after-free.
Protect the entire range collection with device_hotplug_lock. Since
the hotplug notification path already holds that lock, add a lockless
helper, crash_get_memory_ranges_nolock(), for use there. The regular
crash_get_memory_ranges() acquires the lock and calls the helper.
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Baoquan He <baoquan.he@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Pasha Tatashin <pasha.tatashin@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Pratyush Yadav <pratyush@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dave Young <ruirui.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: AKASHI Takahiro <takahiro.akashi@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: James Morse <james.morse@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Palmer Dabbelt <palmer@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Youling Tang <tangyouling@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Huacai Chen <chenhuacai@xxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: 8d5f894a3108 ("x86: kexec_file: lift CRASH_MAX_RANGES limit on crash_mem buffer")
Fixes: 3751e728cef2 ("arm64: kexec_file: add crash dump support")
Fixes: 8acea455fafa ("RISC-V: Support for kexec_file on panic")
Fixes: 1bcca8620a91 ("LoongArch: Add crash dump support for kexec_file")
Link: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260729031235.2840255-1-ruanjinjie%40huawei.com
Signed-off-by: Jinjie Ruan <ruanjinjie@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kernel/crash.c | 9 ++++++++-
include/linux/crash_core.h | 2 +-
kernel/crash_core.c | 28 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
3 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/crash.c b/arch/x86/kernel/crash.c
index e6f23933a6df..8f8c0e592849 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/crash.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/crash.c
@@ -448,6 +448,7 @@ unsigned int arch_crash_get_elfcorehdr_size(void)
void arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event(struct kimage *image, void *arg)
{
void *elfbuf = NULL, *old_elfcorehdr;
+ struct crash_mem *cmem = NULL;
unsigned long mem, memsz;
unsigned long elfsz = 0;
@@ -461,11 +462,16 @@ void arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event(struct kimage *image, void *arg)
(image->hp_action == KEXEC_CRASH_HP_REMOVE_CPU)))
return;
+ if (crash_get_memory_ranges_nolock(&cmem)) {
+ pr_err("Failed to get crash mem range\n");
+ goto out;
+ }
+
/*
* Create the new elfcorehdr reflecting the changes to CPU and/or
* memory resources.
*/
- if (crash_prepare_headers(IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_X86_64), &elfbuf, &elfsz, NULL)) {
+ if (crash_prepare_elf64_headers(cmem, IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_X86_64), &elfbuf, &elfsz)) {
pr_err("unable to create new elfcorehdr");
goto out;
}
@@ -502,6 +508,7 @@ void arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event(struct kimage *image, void *arg)
pr_debug("updated elfcorehdr\n");
out:
+ kvfree(cmem);
vfree(elfbuf);
}
#endif
diff --git a/include/linux/crash_core.h b/include/linux/crash_core.h
index 619af312bd9a..6789ff0af39e 100644
--- a/include/linux/crash_core.h
+++ b/include/linux/crash_core.h
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ extern int crash_prepare_elf64_headers(struct crash_mem *mem, int need_kernel_ma
extern int crash_prepare_headers(int need_kernel_map, void **addr,
unsigned long *sz, unsigned long *nr_mem_ranges);
extern int crash_exclude_core_ranges(struct crash_mem **cmem);
-extern int crash_get_memory_ranges(struct crash_mem **mem_ranges);
+extern int crash_get_memory_ranges_nolock(struct crash_mem **mem_ranges);
struct kimage;
struct kexec_segment;
diff --git a/kernel/crash_core.c b/kernel/crash_core.c
index 991d1599cf9a..05a2a8be083d 100644
--- a/kernel/crash_core.c
+++ b/kernel/crash_core.c
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
#define pr_fmt(fmt) KBUILD_MODNAME ": " fmt
#include <linux/buildid.h>
+#include <linux/device.h>
#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/utsname.h>
#include <linux/vmalloc.h>
@@ -317,7 +318,21 @@ int crash_exclude_core_ranges(struct crash_mem **cmem)
return 0;
}
-int crash_get_memory_ranges(struct crash_mem **mem_ranges)
+/**
+ * crash_get_memory_ranges_nolock - Collect crash kernel memory ranges
+ * @mem_ranges: Output parameter for the allocated crash_mem structure
+ *
+ * Gathers the system memory ranges to be included in the crash kernel's
+ * ELF core header, excluding the crashkernel reserved region and other
+ * architecture-specific areas.
+ *
+ * Context: Caller must hold device_hotplug_lock.
+ *
+ * Return: 0 on success, in which case *@mem_ranges points to a newly
+ * allocated struct crash_mem that the caller must free with kvfree().
+ * Returns a negative error code on failure.
+ */
+int crash_get_memory_ranges_nolock(struct crash_mem **mem_ranges)
{
unsigned int max_nr_ranges;
struct crash_mem *cmem;
@@ -351,6 +366,17 @@ int crash_get_memory_ranges(struct crash_mem **mem_ranges)
return ret;
}
+static int crash_get_memory_ranges(struct crash_mem **mem_ranges)
+{
+ int ret;
+
+ lock_device_hotplug();
+ ret = crash_get_memory_ranges_nolock(mem_ranges);
+ unlock_device_hotplug();
+
+ return ret;
+}
+
int crash_prepare_headers(int need_kernel_map, void **addr, unsigned long *sz,
unsigned long *nr_mem_ranges)
{
--
2.34.1