Bug 2521423 (CVE-2026-74628)

Summary: CVE-2026-74628 kernel: net/x25: fix use-after-free of the socket by its timers
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
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OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's x25 network protocol. The way timers are managed for x25 sockets can lead to a use-after-free vulnerability. Specifically, a timer might be rearmed after the associated socket has been deallocated, causing the system to access freed memory. This could potentially lead to a system crash or other unpredictable behavior.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:44:51 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/x25: fix use-after-free of the socket by its timers

The x25 timers are armed with mod_timer() and cancelled with
timer_delete(), so a pending timer holds no reference on the socket and a
cancel does not wait for a callback already running on another CPU.

x25_heartbeat_expiry() also rearms unconditionally, so it can reinstall
sk->sk_timer after __x25_destroy_socket() has passed its cancel point.
The following __sock_put() frees the socket while the timer is still
queued, and the next expiry uses freed memory.  KASAN reports a
slab-use-after-free on the kmalloc-2k object freed by close().

timer_delete_sync() cannot be used here: x25_heartbeat_expiry() and
x25_timer_expiry() both reach the cancels from inside the timer they
would wait on, through __x25_destroy_socket() and x25_disconnect().

Arm the timers with sk_reset_timer() and cancel them with sk_stop_timer()
so that an armed timer owns a reference, and release it in both expiry
handlers.  Rearm the heartbeat only while sk_hashed(sk) is still true,
since __x25_destroy_socket() unlinks the socket before dropping it.  Arm
the deferred destroy timer the same way and drop its reference in
x25_destroy_timer().

Reproduced on net with KASAN, with the heartbeat period shortened so the
window recurs.  With this patch the reproducer no longer triggers a
report and /proc/net/x25 drains.

Discovered by XBOW, triaged by Baul Lee <baul.lee>