Bug 2516344 - kernel: can: bcm: defer rx_op deallocation to workqueue to fix thrtimer UAF
Summary: kernel: can: bcm: defer rx_op deallocation to workqueue to fix thrtimer UAF
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-08-15 06:07 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-08-19 12:50 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 06:07:35 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

can: bcm: defer rx_op deallocation to workqueue to fix thrtimer UAF

Commit f1b4e32aca08 ("can: bcm: use call_rcu() instead of costly
synchronize_rcu()") replaced synchronize_rcu() in bcm_delete_rx_op()
with call_rcu() and introduced the RX_NO_AUTOTIMER flag.

However, this flag check was omitted for thrtimer in the packet rx
fast-path. During BCM RX operation teardown, a concurrent RCU reader
(bcm_rx_handler) can race and re-arm thrtimer via
bcm_rx_update_and_send() after call_rcu() has been scheduled.  Once
the RCU grace period elapses, bcm_op is freed.  The subsequently
firing thrtimer then dereferences the deallocated op, causing a UAF.

Adding flag checks to the rx fast-path (bcm_rx_update_and_send) does not
fully close the TOCTOU race and introduces latency for every CAN frame.
Conversely, calling hrtimer_cancel() directly inside the RCU callback
(softirq context) is fatal as hrtimer_cancel() can sleep, triggering
a "scheduling while atomic" panic.

Resolve this by deferring the timer cancellation and memory free to a
dedicated unbound workqueue (bcm_wq).  The RCU callback now queues a
work item to bcm_wq, which safely cancels both timers and deallocates
memory in sleepable process context.  A dedicated workqueue is used to
prevent system-wide WQ saturation and is cleanly flushed/destroyed
on module unload to avoid rmmod page faults.

Since the deferred work can now outlive the calling context by an
unbounded amount, also take a reference on op->sk when it is assigned
and drop it only once the deferred work has cancelled both timers, so a
socket can no longer be freed out from under a still-armed timer whose
callback (bcm_send_to_user()) dereferences op->sk.


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