packet_set_ring() temporarily detaches a socket from packet delivery while
reconfiguring its ring. It records the previous running state, clears
po->num, unregisters the protocol hook when needed, drops po->bind_lock,
and later restores po->num and re-registers the hook from the saved
was_running value.
That unlocked window can race with NETDEV_UNREGISTER. The notifier can
observe the socket as not running, skip __unregister_prot_hook(), and
invalidate the per-socket binding by setting po->ifindex to -1 and clearing
po->prot_hook.dev. A one-member fanout group can still retain its shared
fanout hook device pointer. When packet_set_ring() resumes, re-registering
solely from the stale was_running state can re-add the fanout hook after
the device has been unregistered.
Treat po->ifindex == -1 as an invalidated binding after reacquiring
po->bind_lock. Restore po->num as before, but do not re-register the hook
if device unregister already detached the socket.
Fixes: dc99f600698d ("packet: Add fanout support.")
Reported-by: David Lee <redacted>
Signed-off-by: David Lee <redacted>
Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5
---
Changes in v2:
- Add Fixes and Reported-by tags.
- Fix the incorrect Signed-off-by tag from v1.
Trail of Bits has a PoC that achieves local privilege escalation using this
bug on a custom kernel config with CONFIG_LIST_HARDENED disabled, which can
be shared further if needed.
net/packet/af_packet.c | 6 +++++-
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/net/packet/af_packet.c b/net/packet/af_packet.c
--- a/net/packet/af_packet.c
+++ b/net/packet/af_packet.c
@@ -4561,7 +4561,11 @@ static int packet_set_ring(struct sock *sk, union tpacket_req_u *req_u,
spin_lock(&po->bind_lock);
WRITE_ONCE(po->num, num);
- if (was_running)
+ /*
+ * NETDEV_UNREGISTER may have invalidated the binding while bind_lock
+ * was dropped above. Do not re-add a fanout hook to a dead device.
+ */
+ if (was_running && READ_ONCE(po->ifindex) != -1)
register_prot_hook(sk);
spin_unlock(&po->bind_lock);
--
2.43.0