[PATCH 1/2] perf: Fix null pointer access in is_include_guest_event()
From: Vinay Belgaumkar
Date: Fri Sep 04 2026 - 14:57:55 EST
A typical module unload occurring event when there is an active perf
connection leads to freeing of the pmu pointer. The call log is something
like:
..
__pmu_detach_event
pmu_detach_event
pmu_detach_events
perf_pmu_unregister
..
__pmu_detach_event() sets event->pmu to null. When the perf connection
finally is closed, the following stack trace is observed:
Oops: general protection fault, kernel NULL pointer dereference
...
RIP: 0010:_free_event+0x3e/0x370
...
Call Trace:
...
perf_event_release_kernel+0x260/0x2d0
perf_release+0x12/0x20
A call to mediated_pmu_unaccount_event() inside _free_event() is the root
cause of this crash. Adding a check inside is_include_guest_event() ensures
we don't accidentally access a null pmu ptr. In addition to this, we will
now call mediated_pmu_unaccount_event() before clearing the pmu ptr so that
nr_include_guest_events counts are maintained correctly.
Fixes: eff95e170275 ("perf: Add APIs to create/release mediated guest vPMUs")
Cc: Alexander Kanevskiy <alexander.kanevskiy@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Dapeng Mi <dapeng1.mi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: Claude:Claude-Sonnet-5
Signed-off-by: Vinay Belgaumkar <vinay.belgaumkar@xxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/events/core.c | 4 ++++
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)
diff --git a/kernel/events/core.c b/kernel/events/core.c
index a6c8e38a3110..7777e82aad5e 100644
--- a/kernel/events/core.c
+++ b/kernel/events/core.c
@@ -6350,6 +6350,9 @@ static DEFINE_MUTEX(perf_mediated_pmu_mutex);
/* !exclude_guest event of PMU with PERF_PMU_CAP_MEDIATED_VPMU */
static inline bool is_include_guest_event(struct perf_event *event)
{
+ if (!event->pmu)
+ return false;
+
if ((event->pmu->capabilities & PERF_PMU_CAP_MEDIATED_VPMU) &&
!event->attr.exclude_guest)
return true;
@@ -13002,6 +13005,7 @@ static void __pmu_detach_event(struct pmu *pmu, struct perf_event *event,
exclusive_event_destroy(event);
module_put(pmu->module);
+ mediated_pmu_unaccount_event(event);
event->pmu = NULL; /* force fault instead of UAF */
}
--
2.38.1