[PATCH] perf/core: Protect put_ctx() wakeup with RCU

From: Weiming Shi

Date: Mon Oct 05 2026 - 23:42:48 EST


put_ctx() drops a context reference before checking ctx->task in its
non-final branch. perf_event_open() can break an inherited context
relationship in find_get_context() while a concurrent close() drops the
context's final reference, allowing free_ctx() to run before the
post-decrement read. A reproducer triggers this on an unmodified KASAN
kernel:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in put_ctx+0x213/0x220
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88801ef4b480 by task poc/5714
CPU: 2 UID: 65534 PID: 5714 Comm: poc
Call Trace:
...
put_ctx (kernel/events/core.c:1394)
find_get_context (kernel/events/core.c:5135)
__do_sys_perf_event_open (kernel/events/core.c:14083)
do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84)
...
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121)

Hold an RCU read-side lock across the decrement and wakeup decision so
free_ctx() cannot reclaim the context until the access completes.

Fixes: 59f3aa4a3ee2 ("perf: Simplify perf_event_free_task() wait")
Reported-by: <co+8a0b9fcf1e087762@xxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Weiming Shi <bestswngs@xxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/events/core.c | 2 ++
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/events/core.c b/kernel/events/core.c
index fe33fe1..2fec17a 100644
--- a/kernel/events/core.c
+++ b/kernel/events/core.c
@@ -1383,6 +1383,7 @@ static void free_ctx(struct rcu_head *head)

static void put_ctx(struct perf_event_context *ctx)
{
+ rcu_read_lock();
if (refcount_dec_and_test(&ctx->refcount)) {
if (ctx->parent_ctx)
put_ctx(ctx->parent_ctx);
@@ -1394,6 +1395,7 @@ static void put_ctx(struct perf_event_context *ctx)
if (ctx->task == TASK_TOMBSTONE)
wake_up_var(&ctx->refcount);
}
+ rcu_read_unlock();
}

/*