[PATCH v2] tracing/user_events: Don't free an event that a dynamic event still references

From: David Carlier

Date: Sat Oct 31 2026 - 17:25:08 EST


An eprobe takes a reference on the call of the event it attaches to,
and kprobe, uprobe, fprobe and synth events all refuse to go away while
trace_event_dyn_busy() says such a reference exists. user_events never
checks it, so a user event can be freed under an eprobe:

echo 'u:test u32 a' >> dynamic_events
echo 'e:ep user_events/test a=$a' >> dynamic_events
echo '-:user_events/test' >> dynamic_events
echo '-:eprobes/ep' >> dynamic_events

The last write drops the reference on the freed call.

If the last fd of a non-persistent event closes while such a reference
is held, the delayed destroy now fails. Mark the event persistent then,
so it can still be deleted once the reference is gone instead of being
leaked.

Return -EBUSY from destroy_user_event() in that case.

Fixes: 7f5a08c79df3 ("user_events: Add minimal support for trace_event into ftrace")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: David Carlier <devnexen@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v2: keep an event whose delayed destroy fails deletable by marking it
persistent (Sashiko). Deleting it then needs CAP_PERFMON, like any
persistent event.
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261031210420.501187-1-devnexen@xxxxxxxxx/
kernel/trace/trace_events_user.c | 9 +++++++++
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events_user.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events_user.c
index f658c3a77aa7..ea6a20a30cf5 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events_user.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events_user.c
@@ -256,6 +256,11 @@ static void delayed_destroy_user_event(struct work_struct *work)
* attempt to delete it later.
*/
pr_warn("user_events: Unable to delete event\n");
+ /*
+ * Keep it as persistent so it can be still deleted
+ * since nobody own this event
+ */
+ user->reg_flags |= USER_EVENT_REG_PERSIST;
refcount_set(&user->refcnt, 1);
}
out:
@@ -1506,6 +1511,10 @@ static int destroy_user_event(struct user_event *user)

lockdep_assert_held(&event_mutex);

+ /* If there is a reference to a dynamic event */
+ if (trace_event_dyn_busy(&user->call))
+ return -EBUSY;
+
/*
* Detach the fields before removing the call. Removing the event
* frees the field list memory (trace_destroy_fields() is run on
--
2.55.0