Bug 2521427 (CVE-2026-74609) - CVE-2026-74609 kernel: tipc: read le->link under the node lock in tipc_node_link_down()
Summary: CVE-2026-74609 kernel: tipc: read le->link under the node lock in tipc_node_l...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-74609
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: 2026-08-22 15:45 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-08-24 13:33 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:45:04 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tipc: read le->link under the node lock in tipc_node_link_down()

tipc_node_link_down() caches the link pointer before taking n->lock:

	struct tipc_link *l = le->link;		/* unlocked */

	if (!l)
		return;
	tipc_node_write_lock(n);
	if (!tipc_link_is_establishing(l)) {	/* deref l */
	...
		tipc_link_reset(l);		/* write into l */
	if (delete) {
		kfree(l);
		le->link = NULL;

The delete=true caller frees that very object under n->lock, so the lock
does not protect the cached pointer against it:

 - CPU A, delete=false: tipc_rcv() on TIPC_LINK_DOWN_EVT, or the link
   supervision timer via tipc_node_timeout(), reads l unlocked and then
   dereferences it under n->lock;
 - CPU B, delete=true: netlink TIPC_NL_BEARER_DISABLE -> bearer_disable()
   -> tipc_node_delete_links() -> tipc_node_link_down(n, bearer_id, true)
   -> kfree(l).

The link is freed with plain kfree(), not kfree_rcu(), and for UDP bearers
disable_media() only schedules the asynchronous cleanup_bearer() work, so
its synchronize_net() runs after the links are already gone.  An in-flight
CPU A that has read l therefore dereferences freed memory once B frees it:
a use-after-free read in tipc_link_is_establishing(), and a use-after-free
write via tipc_link_reset() on the establishing branch.

The following trace was captured on 7.2.0-rc5-00284-gaf39eb111ce6:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in tipc_link_is_establishing (net/tipc/link.c:285)
  Read of size 4 at addr ffff88802e2aa068 by task swapper/2/0
   tipc_link_is_establishing (net/tipc/link.c:285)
   tipc_node_link_down (net/tipc/node.c:1076)
   tipc_node_timeout (net/tipc/node.c:843)
  Allocated by task 9549:
   tipc_link_create (net/tipc/link.c:490)
   tipc_node_check_dest (net/tipc/node.c:1279)
   tipc_disc_rcv (net/tipc/discover.c:252)
   tipc_udp_recv (net/tipc/udp_media.c:389)
  Freed by task 9549:
   tipc_node_link_down (net/tipc/node.c:1084)
   tipc_node_delete_links (net/tipc/node.c:1320)
   bearer_disable (net/tipc/bearer.c:414)
   __tipc_nl_bearer_disable (net/tipc/bearer.c:992)

Move the le->link read inside tipc_node_write_lock(), so it is serialised
against the kfree() in the delete path.  A racing teardown now either has
not run yet, and we see a valid link, or has already run, and we see NULL.


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