bpf: Free reuseport cBPF prog after RCU grace period.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: Free reuseport cBPF prog after RCU grace period.
Eulgyu Kim reported the splat below with a repro. [0]
The repro sets up a UDP reuseport group with a cBPF prog and replaces it with a new one while another thread is sending a UDP packet to the group.
The reuseport prog is freed by sk_reuseport_prog_free(). bpf_prog_put() is called for "e"BPF prog to destruct through multiple stages while cBPF prog is freed immediately by bpf_release_orig_filter() and bpf_prog_free().
If a reuseport prog is detached from the setsockopt() path (reuseport_attach_prog() or reuseport_detach_prog()), sk_reuseport_prog_free() is called without waiting for RCU readers to complete, resulting in various bugs.
Let's defer freeing the reuseport cBPF prog after one RCU grace period.
Note "e"BPF prog is safe as is unless the fast path starts to touch fields destroyed in bpf_prog_put_deferred() and __bpf_prog_put_noref().
[0]: BUG: KASAN: vmalloc-out-of-bounds in reuseport_select_sock+0xedc/0x1220 net/core/sock_reuseport.c:596 Read of size 4 at addr ffffc9000051e004 by task slowme/10208 CPU: 6 UID: 1000 PID: 10208 Comm: slowme Not tainted 7.0.0-geb7ac95ff75e #32 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, arch_caps fix, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace:
dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xca/0x240 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0x118/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595 reuseport_select_sock+0xedc/0x1220 net/core/sock_reuseport.c:596 udp4_lib_lookup2+0x3bc/0x950 net/ipv4/udp.c:495 __udp4_lib_lookup+0x768/0xe20 net/ipv4/udp.c:723 __udp4_lib_lookup_skb+0x297/0x390 net/ipv4/udp.c:752 __udp4_lib_rcv+0x1312/0x2620 net/ipv4/udp.c:2752 ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x282/0x440 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:207 ip_local_deliver_finish+0x3bb/0x6f0 net/ipv4/ip_input.c:241 NF_HOOK+0x30c/0x3a0 include/linux/netfilter.h:318 NF_HOOK+0x30c/0x3a0 include/linux/netfilter.h:318 __netif_receive_skb_one_core net/core/dev.c:6181 [inline] __netif_receive_skb net/core/dev.c:6294 [inline] process_backlog+0xaa4/0x1960 net/core/dev.c:6645 __napi_poll+0xae/0x340 net/core/dev.c:7709 napi_poll net/core/dev.c:7772 [inline] net_rx_action+0x5d7/0xf50 net/core/dev.c:7929 handle_softirqs+0x22b/0x870 kernel/softirq.c:622 do_softirq+0x76/0xd0 kernel/softirq.c:523
__local_bh_enable_ip+0xf8/0x130 kernel/softirq.c:450 local_bh_enable include/linux/bottom_half.h:33 [inline] rcu_read_unlock_bh include/linux/rcupdate.h:924 [inline] __dev_queue_xmit+0x1dd7/0x3710 net/core/dev.c:4890 neigh_output include/net/neighbour.h:556 [inline] ip_finish_output2+0xca9/0x1070 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:237 NF_HOOK_COND include/linux/netfilter.h:307 [inline] ip_output+0x29f/0x450 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:438 ip_send_skb+0x45/0xc0 net/ipv4/ip_output.c:1508 udp_send_skb+0xb04/0x1510 net/ipv4/udp.c:1195 udp_sendmsg+0x1a71/0x2350 net/ipv4/udp.c:1485 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:727 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:742 [inline] __sys_sendto+0x554/0x680 net/socket.c:2206 __do_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2213 [inline] __se_sys_sendto net/socket.c:2209 [inline] __x64_sys_sendto+0xde/0x100 net/socket.c:2209 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x160/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x415a2d Code: b3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 66 90 f3 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 b8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007f6bc31e41e8 EFLAGS: 00000212 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002c RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f6bc31e4cdc RCX: 0000000000415a2d RDX: 0000000000000001 RSI: 00007f6bc31e421f RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007f6bc31e4240 R08: 00007f6bc31e4220 R09: 0000000000000010 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ---truncated---
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
Affected products
1Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
Root cause
"Classic BPF reuseport programs are freed immediately without waiting for RCU readers to complete, causing a use-after-free in the UDP receive fast path."
Attack vector
An attacker can trigger a use-after-free by setting up a UDP reuseport group with a classic BPF (cBPF) program and then replacing or detaching that program via `setsockopt()` (through `reuseport_attach_prog()` or `reuseport_detach_prog()`) while another thread concurrently sends a UDP packet to the group. The fast path in `reuseport_select_sock()` reads the freed cBPF program memory, causing a KASAN vmalloc-out-of-bounds access [patch_id=6734734]. No authentication is required beyond the ability to create sockets and attach BPF programs.
Affected code
The vulnerability is in `net/core/filter.c` in the `sk_reuseport_prog_free()` function. The cBPF (classic BPF) reuseport program was freed immediately via `bpf_release_orig_filter()` and `bpf_prog_free()` without waiting for RCU readers to complete, while the eBPF path correctly deferred destruction. The patch modifies `sk_reuseport_prog_free()` to use `call_rcu()` for cBPF programs, deferring their release by one RCU grace period.
What the fix does
The patch replaces the immediate free path for classic BPF programs in `sk_reuseport_prog_free()` with a deferred path using `call_rcu()`. A new callback `sk_reuseport_prog_free_rcu()` is added that performs `bpf_release_orig_filter()` and `bpf_prog_free()` only after an RCU grace period has elapsed. The condition is changed from checking `prog->type == BPF_PROG_TYPE_SK_REUSEPORT` to `bpf_prog_was_classic(prog)`, ensuring that cBPF programs are freed via RCU while eBPF programs continue to use the existing `bpf_prog_put()` path, which already handles deferred destruction correctly.
Preconditions
- configThe attacker must be able to create a UDP reuseport group with a classic BPF (cBPF) program attached.
- inputThe attacker must be able to replace or detach the reuseport program via setsockopt() while another thread sends UDP packets to the group.
- authNo special privileges beyond the ability to create sockets and attach BPF programs are required.
Generated on Jun 20, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.
References
8- git.kernel.org/stable/c/08264d5bba0bdd3a79bc2984fee09286aba0c4ebmitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/18fc650ccd7fe3376eca89203668cfb8268f60dfmitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/298db6167f81e9c470a57cf652e4e47757b4293emitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/87dfb977bdb6eaa47e9993a34e18f44970f88b1fmitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/90e47dc5c572d1c73971ac51c7428803f42b78ebmitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3e3fddda6b5d9ba505d218b4055e7d8a282ac57mitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f8b8f1d4bb76098e87b8269a0631019648330e6dmitre
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/fec41484e7c2aa7ded44c541bba98872be937754mitre
News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.