Re: [PATCH v2] tracing: Fix race condition in kprobe initialization causing NULL pointer dereference

On 2025-09-29, Steven Rostedt [off-list ref] wrote:

On Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:57:31 +0100
chenyuan_fl@163.com wrote:

quoted

From: Yuan Chen <redacted>

There is a critical race condition in kprobe initialization that can lead to
NULL pointer dereference and kernel crash.

[1135630.084782] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000710a04630000
...
[1135630.260314] pstate: 404003c9 (nZcv DAIF +PAN -UAO)
[1135630.269239] pc : kprobe_perf_func+0x30/0x260
[1135630.277643] lr : kprobe_dispatcher+0x44/0x60
[1135630.286041] sp : ffffaeff4977fa40
[1135630.293441] x29: ffffaeff4977fa40 x28: ffffaf015340e400
[1135630.302837] x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000
[1135630.312257] x25: ffffaf029ed108a8 x24: ffffaf015340e528
[1135630.321705] x23: ffffaeff4977fc50 x22: ffffaeff4977fc50
[1135630.331154] x21: 0000000000000000 x20: ffffaeff4977fc50
[1135630.340586] x19: ffffaf015340e400 x18: 0000000000000000
[1135630.349985] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000
[1135630.359285] x15: 0000000000000000 x14: 0000000000000000
[1135630.368445] x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
[1135630.377473] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000
[1135630.386411] x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : 0000000000000000
[1135630.395252] x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
[1135630.403963] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000
[1135630.412545] x3 : 0000710a04630000 x2 : 0000000000000006
[1135630.421021] x1 : ffffaeff4977fc50 x0 : 0000710a04630000
[1135630.429410] Call trace:
[1135630.434828]  kprobe_perf_func+0x30/0x260
[1135630.441661]  kprobe_dispatcher+0x44/0x60
[1135630.448396]  aggr_pre_handler+0x70/0xc8
[1135630.454959]  kprobe_breakpoint_handler+0x140/0x1e0
[1135630.462435]  brk_handler+0xbc/0xd8
[1135630.468437]  do_debug_exception+0x84/0x138
[1135630.475074]  el1_dbg+0x18/0x8c
[1135630.480582]  security_file_permission+0x0/0xd0
[1135630.487426]  vfs_write+0x70/0x1c0
[1135630.493059]  ksys_write+0x5c/0xc8
[1135630.498638]  __arm64_sys_write+0x24/0x30
[1135630.504821]  el0_svc_common+0x78/0x130
[1135630.510838]  el0_svc_handler+0x38/0x78
[1135630.516834]  el0_svc+0x8/0x1b0

kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c: 1308
0xffff3df8995039ec <kprobe_perf_func+0x2c>:     ldr     x21, [x24,#120]
include/linux/compiler.h: 294
0xffff3df8995039f0 <kprobe_perf_func+0x30>:     ldr     x1, [x21,x0]

kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c
1308: head = this_cpu_ptr(call->perf_events);
1309:   if (hlist_empty(head))
1310:           return 0;

crash> struct trace_event_call -o  
struct trace_event_call {
  ...
  [120] struct hlist_head *perf_events;  //(call->perf_event)
  ...
}

crash> struct trace_event_call ffffaf015340e528  
struct trace_event_call {
  ...
  perf_events = 0xffff0ad5fa89f088, //this value is correct, but x21 = 0
  ...
}

Race Condition Analysis:

The race occurs between kprobe activation and perf_events initialization:

  CPU0                                    CPU1
  ====                                    ====
  perf_kprobe_init
    perf_trace_event_init
      tp_event->perf_events = list;(1)
      tp_event->class->reg (2)← KPROBE ACTIVE
                                          Debug exception triggers
                                          ...
                                          kprobe_dispatcher
                                            kprobe_perf_func (tk->tp.flags & TP_FLAG_PROFILE)
                                              head = this_cpu_ptr(call->perf_events)(3)
                                              (perf_events is still NULL)

I do not know anything about the kprobe and perf internals. This email
should hopefully help to act as a guide of where you need to place the
memory barrier _pair_. If I understand the problem description
correctly, you would need:

quoted

Problem:
1. CPU0 executes (1) assigning tp_event->perf_events = list

smp_wmb()

quoted

2. CPU0 executes (2) enabling kprobe functionality via class->reg()
3. CPU1 triggers and reaches kprobe_dispatcher
4. CPU1 checks TP_FLAG_PROFILE - condition passes (step 2 completed)

smp_rmb()

quoted

5. CPU1 calls kprobe_perf_func() and crashes at (3) because
   call->perf_events is still NULL

The issue: Assignment in step 1 may not be visible to CPU1 due to
missing memory barriers before step 2 sets TP_FLAG_PROFILE flag.

A better explanation of the issue would be: CPU1 sees that kprobe
functionality is enabled but does not see that perf_events has been
assigned.

Add pairing read and write memory barriers to guarantee that if CPU1
sees that kprobe functionality is enabled, it must also see that
perf_events has been assigned.

Note that this could also be done more efficiently using a store_release
when setting the flag (in step 2) and a load_acquire when loading the
flag (in step 4).

John Ogness