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WARM2d

[PATCH] tracing/histograms: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers

From: Hui Su <hidden>
Date: 2026-08-16 10:09:18
Also in: lkml, stable
Subsystem: the rest, tracing · Maintainers: Linus Torvalds, Steven Rostedt, Masami Hiramatsu

When two hist triggers on different events are registered with the same
name=, the second one reuses the first as named_data.  Both are added to
tr->hist_vars by save_hist_vars() during event_hist_trigger_parse(),
because save_hist_vars() is called before event_trigger_register() while
the named reuse is only detected later, in hist_register_trigger().

In the named-data branch hist_register_trigger() then frees the second
histogram's hist_data via destroy_hist_data(), but never removes its
tr->hist_vars list entry, leaving a dangling pointer and leaking the
trace_array reference it holds.

A later hist trigger that references a variable makes find_var_file()
walk tr->hist_vars and dereference the freed hist_data.  The bug is
reproducible from userspace by writing three hist triggers to tracefs:

  echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:x=common_pid:name=mh' > \
      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
  echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:x=common_pid:name=mh' > \
      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_fork/trigger
  echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:vals=$x' > \
      /sys/kernel/tracing/events/sched/sched_process_exit/trigger

The third write panics the kernel:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in find_var_file.part.0+0x272/0x290
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff888001f8a0e0 by task sh/1
  CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: sh Tainted: G      D          N
  Call Trace:
    find_var_file.part.0
    find_event_var
    parse_atom
    parse_expr
    __create_val_field
    event_hist_trigger_parse
    trigger_process_regex
    event_trigger_write
    vfs_write
    ksys_write
    do_syscall_64
    entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
  Allocated by task 1:
    event_hist_trigger_parse
  Freed by task 1:
    hist_register_trigger+0x618/0xa30
    event_hist_trigger_parse
  The buggy address belongs to freed 2048-byte region
  Oops: general protection fault ... RIP: find_var_file.part.0
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b

Fix by removing the hist_data from tr->hist_vars and releasing the
trace_array reference in the named-data branch of hist_register_trigger()
before freeing the hist_data.

Fixes: 6f86bdeab633 ("tracing: Fix bad hist from corrupting named_triggers list")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Hui Su <redacted>
---
 kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c | 4 +++-
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
index 58d28cd1afa3..6bf00710fd10 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
@@ -6641,8 +6641,10 @@ static int hist_register_trigger(char *glob,
 		tracing_set_filter_buffering(file->tr, true);
 	}
 
-	if (named_data)
+	if (named_data) {
+		remove_hist_vars(hist_data);
 		destroy_hist_data(hist_data);
+	}
  out:
 	return ret;
 }
-- 
2.54.0
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