[PATCH net v3] net: pin protocol module before inet socket allocation

From: Chengfeng Ye <hidden>
Date: 2026-09-04 11:15:22
Also in: lkml, stable
Subsystem: networking [general], the rest · Maintainers: "David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Linus Torvalds

inet_create() and inet6_create() look up the protocol under
rcu_read_lock(), then drop RCU before using the resulting proto.
sk_alloc() uses GFP_KERNEL, so RCU cannot be held across it.

A loadable protocol can be unregistered in that window.
inet_unregister_protosw() waits with synchronize_net() only for readers
still in the RCU section. After rcu_read_unlock(), module exit can run
proto_unregister(), destroy prot->slab, and free the module. inet_create()
then uses a dangling proto pointer:

  CPU 0 inet_create                     CPU 1 l2tp_ip_exit
  rcu_read_lock()
  answer_prot = answer->prot
  rcu_read_unlock()                     inet_unregister_protosw()
                                          synchronize_net()
                                        proto_unregister()
                                          kmem_cache_destroy(slab)
  WARN_ON(!answer_prot->slab)
  sk_alloc() -> kmem_cache_alloc(stale)

This was reproduced with socket(AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM, IPPROTO_L2TP)
racing delete_module("l2tp_ip"):

  Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address
  KASAN: maybe wild-memory-access in range
  RIP: kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x63/0x370
  Call Trace:
   sk_prot_alloc+0x74/0x2c0
   sk_alloc+0x2b/0x6c0
   inet_create+0x2cd/0xd40
   __sock_create+0x1c3/0x430
   __sys_socket+0x116/0x1d0

A protosw can also be published while its owner is in
MODULE_STATE_COMING. try_module_get() accepts modules in that state, but
module initialization failure does not wait for such references before
freeing the module. A protocol initialization unwind can therefore destroy
the slab and module image despite the reference.

Cache the proto and its owner while still under RCU. Reject an owner in
MODULE_STATE_COMING, then pin it before leaving the RCU section. The RCU
section protects the rejection path against initialization failure, while
the module reference protects the allocation path against normal unload.
sk_prot_alloc() obtains the socket-lifetime reference. Drop the temporary
reference after sk_alloc(). In inet6_create(), use the cached proto rather
than dereferencing the protosw after leaving RCU.

Fixes: a79af59efd20 ("[NET]: Fix module reference counts for loadable protocol modules")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Chengfeng Ye <redacted>
---
Changes in v3:
- Reject protocol owners in MODULE_STATE_COMING before taking a temporary
  module reference.
- Cache the owner under RCU and use that pointer for module_put().
- Use the cached proto for the IPv6 backlog callback instead of
  dereferencing the protosw after RCU unlock.

Changes in v2:
- Pin answer_prot->owner in inet_create()/inet6_create() under RCU instead
  of reordering try_module_get() in sk_prot_alloc().

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260825172349.232794-1-nicoyip.dev@gmail.com/ (local) [v2]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20260823171311.3857087-1-nicoyip.dev@gmail.com/ (local) [v1]
---
 net/ipv4/af_inet.c  | 16 +++++++++++++---
 net/ipv6/af_inet6.c | 18 ++++++++++++++----
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/ipv4/af_inet.c b/net/ipv4/af_inet.c
index 32d006c1a8ee..6b87f0b6cc22 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/af_inet.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/af_inet.c

@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ static int inet_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	struct inet_protosw *answer;
 	struct inet_sock *inet;
 	struct proto *answer_prot;
+	struct module *answer_owner;
 	unsigned char answer_flags;
 	int try_loading_module = 0;
 	int err;

@@ -322,9 +323,16 @@ static int inet_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	    !ns_capable(net->user_ns, CAP_NET_RAW))
 		goto out_rcu_unlock;
 
-	sock->ops = answer->ops;
 	answer_prot = answer->prot;
+	answer_owner = answer_prot->owner;
 	answer_flags = answer->flags;
+	if (answer_owner &&
+	    (module_is_coming(answer_owner) ||
+	     !try_module_get(answer_owner))) {
+		err = -EPROTONOSUPPORT;
+		goto out_rcu_unlock;
+	}
+	sock->ops = answer->ops;
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
 	WARN_ON(!answer_prot->slab);

@@ -332,7 +340,7 @@ static int inet_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	err = -ENOMEM;
 	sk = sk_alloc(net, PF_INET, GFP_KERNEL, answer_prot, kern);
 	if (!sk)
-		goto out;
+		goto out_module_put;
 
 	err = 0;
 	if (INET_PROTOSW_REUSE & answer_flags)

@@ -398,6 +406,8 @@ static int inet_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 		if (err)
 			goto out_sk_release;
 	}
+out_module_put:
+	module_put(answer_owner);
 out:
 	return err;
 out_rcu_unlock:

@@ -406,7 +416,7 @@ static int inet_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 out_sk_release:
 	sk_common_release(sk);
 	sock->sk = NULL;
-	goto out;
+	goto out_module_put;
 }

diff --git a/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c b/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c
index 282912a11999..1df8b2e7e243 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/af_inet6.c

@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ static int inet6_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	struct sock *sk;
 	struct inet_protosw *answer;
 	struct proto *answer_prot;
+	struct module *answer_owner;
 	unsigned char answer_flags;
 	int try_loading_module = 0;
 	int err;

@@ -167,9 +168,16 @@ static int inet6_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	    !ns_capable(net->user_ns, CAP_NET_RAW))
 		goto out_rcu_unlock;
 
-	sock->ops = answer->ops;
 	answer_prot = answer->prot;
+	answer_owner = answer_prot->owner;
 	answer_flags = answer->flags;
+	if (answer_owner &&
+	    (module_is_coming(answer_owner) ||
+	     !try_module_get(answer_owner))) {
+		err = -EPROTONOSUPPORT;
+		goto out_rcu_unlock;
+	}
+	sock->ops = answer->ops;
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
 	WARN_ON(!answer_prot->slab);

@@ -177,7 +185,7 @@ static int inet6_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	err = -ENOBUFS;
 	sk = sk_alloc(net, PF_INET6, GFP_KERNEL, answer_prot, kern);
 	if (!sk)
-		goto out;
+		goto out_module_put;
 
 	sock_init_data(sock, sk);

@@ -201,7 +209,7 @@ static int inet6_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 	sk->sk_family		= PF_INET6;
 	sk->sk_protocol		= protocol;
 
-	sk->sk_backlog_rcv	= answer->prot->backlog_rcv;
+	sk->sk_backlog_rcv	= answer_prot->backlog_rcv;
 
 	inet_sk(sk)->pinet6 = np = inet6_sk_generic(sk);
 	np->hop_limit	= -1;

@@ -251,6 +259,8 @@ static int inet6_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 		if (err)
 			goto out_sk_release;
 	}
+out_module_put:
+	module_put(answer_owner);
 out:
 	return err;
 out_rcu_unlock:

@@ -259,7 +269,7 @@ static int inet6_create(struct net *net, struct socket *sock, int protocol,
 out_sk_release:
 	sk_common_release(sk);
 	sock->sk = NULL;
-	goto out;
+	goto out_module_put;
 }
 
 int __inet6_bind(struct sock *sk, struct sockaddr_unsized *uaddr, int addr_len,

-- 
2.43.0

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