From d2710c8d938ae6a825a6463158e6e6f31eac792a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Thomas Gleixner Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:09:12 +0200 Subject: signal: Prevent exec() race Hyunwoo debugged the following KASAN UAF splat: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __send_signal_locked+0xb27/0xba0 Write of size 8 at addr ffff888007ed80c8 by task poc/79 ... Call Trace: __send_signal_locked+0xb27/0xba0 do_send_sig_info+0xa7/0x160 do_send_specific+0x76/0xa0 __x64_sys_tgkill+0x193/0x270 ... Allocated by task 80: do_timer_create+0x1a4/0x1030 __x64_sys_timer_create+0x145/0x190 ... Freed by task 12: kmem_cache_free_bulk+0x1f8/0x4a0 kvfree_rcu_bulk+0x14f/0x1c0 kfree_rcu_work+0x128/0x1a0 ... Last potentially related work creation: kvfree_call_rcu+0x39/0x390 __flush_itimer_signals+0x211/0x320 flush_itimer_signals+0x47/0x90 begin_new_exec+0xa6b/0x28c0 It turned out that this happens with a non-leader exec() as Hyunwoo explained: de_thread() calls exchange_tids() before release_task(leader), so the struct pid held by a SIGEV_THREAD_ID timer created against the leader's tid now points to the thread which called execve(). pid_task() returns that thread and lock_task_sighand() on it succeeds. If the timer signal is blocked, its sigqueue stays queued on the leader's task::pending. The next expiry of that timer can then run while release_task() flushes the queue. posixtimer_send_sigqueue() checks whether the sigqueue is already queued with a plain list_empty(), which only reads list_head::next. list_del_init() is not atomic and INIT_LIST_HEAD() stores list_head::next before list_head::prev, so the check can pass in between. list_add_tail() queues the entry on the task::pending of the live thread, and the list_head::prev store from the flush then overwrites the list_head::prev link that list_add_tail() has just set. __flush_itimer_signals() does not undo that either. With list_head::prev pointing at the entry itself, its list_del_init() only stores the same values again, so the entry is not removed from the list. It is still there after the last reference is dropped and the timer is freed by RCU, and the list_add_tail() of a later tgkill() follows that list_head::prev into the freed timer. This problem surfaced with the recent commit which moved the sigqueue flush out of the sighand lock held region. Hyonwoo proposed to fix this by using list_del_init_careful(), but that just papers over the problem. After some disucssions and various attempts to solve it, Eric pointed out that there is no reason to flush task::pending late in release_task() and it should be done in exit_signals() already. As nothing can collect and deliver signals which are queued in a dying task's pending queue, there is no reason to delay it further. But it has to be ensured that no signals can be queued into it after that point. exit_signals() sets PF_EXITING in task::flags, which can be used as an indicator for this. Cure it by: - Preventing signal queueing for task private signals (PIDTYPE_PID) when the task has PF_EXITING set in __send_signal_locked() and in posixtimer_send_sigqueue(). - Protecting the unlocked setting of PF_EXITING in exit_signals() for the task group empty and the group exit case with sighand lock - Flushing task::pending signals right there. Optimize that by moving the whole pending list to an on-stack list head under sighand lock and free the signals without the lock held. There has been quite some discussion about the lockless flush and the non-leader exec case on weakly ordered systems. The problem is that a third party which tries to send a posix timer signal relies on the PID lookup to find the target task and that lookup might result in the new leader when the signal was originaly directed to the old leader. In case that the signal was queued on the old leader then the lockless flush raised a concern over the following situation: old_leader new_leader third party A: flush_list() // list_del_init() stores to sigqueue LOCK (tasklist) old_leader->exit_state = EXIT_ZOMBIE; B: UNLOCK (tasklist) C: LOCK (tasklist) if (old_leader->exit_state) transfer_tids() D: store PID posix_timer_send_sigqueue() // Observes #D so t = new_leader E: t = get_target() F: LOCK (sighand) G: if (list_empty(sigqueue)) list_add(sigqueue) The concern was that the third party might observe #D but not observe #A and therefore would proceed to #G while the list_del() stores (#A) in flush_list() are not visible yet, which could result in list corruption. That would be possible if looking at it solely from a RELEASE+ACQUIRE ordering point of view, but B-C is a UNLOCK+LOCK hand-over, which is not the same as RELEASE+ACQUIRE: RELEASE+ACQUIRE: RCpc, only the CPUs involved agree on the ordering UNLOCK+LOCK: RCtso, the hand-over is store-ordering As B-C is UNLOCK+LOCK, which is RCtso and that does impose store order, A stores must happen before the D store. Combine with E-F, which has a data dependency from the LOAD to the LOCK and thereby constraints later LOADs, those sigqueue loads in G that come after F must in fact observe the A stores. Fixes: fb3bbcfe344e ("exit: change the release_task() paths to call flush_sigqueue() lockless") Reported-by: Hyunwoo Kim Debugged-by: Hyunwoo Kim Suggested-by: "Eric W. Biederman" Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner Tested-by: Kijo Park Reviewed-by: Oleg Nesterov Reviewed-by: Frederic Weisbecker Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260911090541.572536604@kernel.org Closes: https://patch.msgid.link/aok1rdkBgZsynHZB@v4bel --- kernel/exit.c | 11 +++--- kernel/signal.c | 115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------------- 2 files changed, 91 insertions(+), 35 deletions(-) diff --git a/kernel/exit.c b/kernel/exit.c index 4e028f157..424c44a42 100644 --- a/kernel/exit.c +++ b/kernel/exit.c @@ -302,12 +302,13 @@ repeat: free_pids(post.pids); release_thread(p); /* - * This task was already removed from the process/thread/pid lists - * and lock_task_sighand(p) can't succeed. Nobody else can touch - * ->pending or, if group dead, signal->shared_pending. We can call - * flush_sigqueue() lockless. + * This task was already removed from the process/thread/pid lists and + * lock_task_sighand(p) can't succeed. If it's the group leader then + * flush tsk->signal->shared_pending. tsk->pending has been flushed + * already in exit_signals(). Nothing else can touch + * signal->shared_pending anymore, so flush_sigqueue() can be invoked + * lockless. */ - flush_sigqueue(&p->pending); if (thread_group_leader(p)) flush_sigqueue(&p->signal->shared_pending); diff --git a/kernel/signal.c b/kernel/signal.c index ec3055095..d31ebcb6e 100644 --- a/kernel/signal.c +++ b/kernel/signal.c @@ -457,18 +457,42 @@ static void __sigqueue_free(struct sigqueue *q) kmem_cache_free(sigqueue_cachep, q); } -void flush_sigqueue(struct sigpending *queue) +/* + * flush_sigqueue_list() can only be invoked without holding sighand::siglock in + * the following cases: + * + * 1) When flushing task::pending _after_ setting task::flags PF_EXITING + * + * All functions which try to send a signal to @task will observe PF_EXITING + * and drop the signal. + * + * 2) When flushing task::signal::shared_pending _after_ the last task in a + * thread group was unhashed and task::sighand is NULL. + * + * Nothing can queue a signal anymore because sighand is NULL. + */ +static void flush_sigqueue_list(struct list_head *head) { - struct sigqueue *q; + struct sigqueue *q, *tmp; - sigemptyset(&queue->signal); - while (!list_empty(&queue->list)) { - q = list_entry(queue->list.next, struct sigqueue , list); + list_for_each_entry_safe(q, tmp, head, list) { list_del_init(&q->list); __sigqueue_free(q); } } +void flush_sigqueue(struct sigpending *queue) +{ + sigemptyset(&queue->signal); + flush_sigqueue_list(&queue->list); +} + +static void sigqueue_dequeue_pending(struct sigpending *queue, struct list_head *head) +{ + sigemptyset(&queue->signal); + list_splice_init(&queue->list, head); +} + /* * Flush all pending signals for this kthread. */ @@ -1019,6 +1043,21 @@ static inline bool legacy_queue(struct sigpending *signals, int sig) return (sig < SIGRTMIN) && sigismember(&signals->signal, sig); } +/* + * When PF_EXITING is set the task is on the way out and has t::pending + * flushed already. Prevent queueing of PIDTYPE_PID signals as they would + * be leaked. + */ +static inline bool task_can_queue_signal(struct task_struct *t, enum pid_type type) +{ + lockdep_assert_held(&t->sighand->siglock); + + if (!(t->flags & PF_EXITING)) + return true; + + return type != PIDTYPE_PID; +} + static int __send_signal_locked(int sig, struct kernel_siginfo *info, struct task_struct *t, enum pid_type type, bool force) { @@ -1030,6 +1069,10 @@ static int __send_signal_locked(int sig, struct kernel_siginfo *info, lockdep_assert_held(&t->sighand->siglock); result = TRACE_SIGNAL_IGNORED; + + if (!task_can_queue_signal(t, type)) + goto ret; + if (!prepare_signal(sig, t, force)) goto ret; @@ -1980,11 +2023,25 @@ static inline struct task_struct *posixtimer_get_target(struct k_itimer *tmr) struct task_struct *t = pid_task(tmr->it_pid, tmr->it_pid_type); if (t && tmr->it_pid_type != PIDTYPE_PID && - same_thread_group(t, current) && !current->exit_state) + same_thread_group(t, current) && !(current->flags & PF_EXITING)) t = current; return t; } +/* + * Find the target task for the POSIX timer signal and prevent that a + * PIDTYPE_PID signal is queued on a task which has PF_EXITING set. + */ +static inline struct task_struct *posixtimer_get_unignore_target(struct k_itimer *tmr) +{ + struct task_struct *t = posixtimer_get_target(tmr); + + if (t && task_can_queue_signal(t, tmr->it_pid_type)) + return t; + + return NULL; +} + void posixtimer_send_sigqueue(struct k_itimer *tmr) { struct sigqueue *q = &tmr->sigq; @@ -2002,6 +2059,9 @@ void posixtimer_send_sigqueue(struct k_itimer *tmr) if (!likely(lock_task_sighand(t, &flags))) return; + if (!task_can_queue_signal(t, tmr->it_pid_type)) + goto unlock; + /* * Update @tmr::sigqueue_seq for posix timer signals with sighand * locked to prevent a race against dequeue_signal(). @@ -2093,6 +2153,7 @@ void posixtimer_send_sigqueue(struct k_itimer *tmr) result = TRACE_SIGNAL_DELIVERED; out: trace_signal_generate(sig, &q->info, t, tmr->it_pid_type != PIDTYPE_PID, result); +unlock: unlock_task_sighand(t, &flags); } @@ -2148,7 +2209,7 @@ static void posixtimer_sig_unignore(struct task_struct *tsk, int sig) * has exited by now, drop the reference count. */ guard(rcu)(); - target = posixtimer_get_target(tmr); + target = posixtimer_get_unignore_target(tmr); if (target) posixtimer_queue_sigqueue(&tmr->sigq, target, tmr->it_pid_type); else @@ -3132,42 +3193,36 @@ static void retarget_shared_pending(struct task_struct *tsk, sigset_t *which) void exit_signals(struct task_struct *tsk) { + LIST_HEAD(sigq_list); int group_stop = 0; - sigset_t unblocked; /* * @tsk is about to have PF_EXITING set - lock out users which - * expect stable threadgroup. + * expect a stable threadgroup. */ cgroup_threadgroup_change_begin(tsk); - if (thread_group_empty(tsk) || (tsk->signal->flags & SIGNAL_GROUP_EXIT)) { + scoped_guard(spinlock_irq, &tsk->sighand->siglock) { tsk->flags |= PF_EXITING; - cgroup_threadgroup_change_end(tsk); - return; - } - spin_lock_irq(&tsk->sighand->siglock); - /* - * From now this task is not visible for group-wide signals, - * see wants_signal(), do_signal_stop(). - */ - tsk->flags |= PF_EXITING; + sigqueue_dequeue_pending(&tsk->pending, &sigq_list); - cgroup_threadgroup_change_end(tsk); + if (task_sigpending(tsk) && !thread_group_empty(tsk) && + !(tsk->signal->flags & SIGNAL_GROUP_EXIT)) { + sigset_t unblocked = tsk->blocked; - if (!task_sigpending(tsk)) - goto out; + signotset(&unblocked); + retarget_shared_pending(tsk, &unblocked); - unblocked = tsk->blocked; - signotset(&unblocked); - retarget_shared_pending(tsk, &unblocked); + if (unlikely(tsk->jobctl & JOBCTL_STOP_PENDING) && + task_participate_group_stop(tsk)) + group_stop = CLD_STOPPED; + } + } - if (unlikely(tsk->jobctl & JOBCTL_STOP_PENDING) && - task_participate_group_stop(tsk)) - group_stop = CLD_STOPPED; -out: - spin_unlock_irq(&tsk->sighand->siglock); + cgroup_threadgroup_change_end(tsk); + + flush_sigqueue_list(&sigq_list); /* * If group stop has completed, deliver the notification. This -- cgit v1.3.1 From acb03d3881818581052924a9bbbe92b8741ed448 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Hyunwoo Kim Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:09:17 +0200 Subject: exec: Cleanup POSIX timers right after de_thread() A per-thread CPU timer holds a reference to the PID of the thread it is attached to and, while it is armed, its node is queued in that thread's posix_cputimers. The task is looked up by that PID. When a non-leader thread exec()s, de_thread() changes which task owns that PID. pid_task(timer->it.cpu.pid, PIDTYPE_PID) then returns NULL, but the node is still queued on tsk, which is alive. timer_lock_sighand() takes a failed lookup to mean that the node is already dequeued, so it has nothing to undo. begin_new_exec() calls posix_cpu_timers_exit(me) right after exec_task_namespaces() and that removes the leftover node, so the state normally stays invisible. But bprm->point_of_no_return is set before de_thread(), so if unshare_files(), set_mm_exe_file(), exec_mmap() or exec_task_namespaces() fails, the task dies before it gets there. exit_itimers() then frees the k_itimer while its node is still queued, and reaping tsk later erases that freed node from the rbtree. In short: the non-leader thread B the parent timer_create(CLOCK_THREAD_CPUTIME_ID) timer_settime() arm_timer() // the node is queued on B execve() de_thread(B) exchange_tids(B, leader) // B's PID now belongs to the leader release_task(leader) __exit_signal(leader) posix_cpu_timers_exit(leader) // cleans leader's queue, not B's __unhash_process(leader) // that PID has no task anymore exec_mmap() mmap_read_lock_killable(old_mm) kill(B, SIGKILL) // -EINTR get_signal() do_exit() exit_itimers() posix_timer_delete() posix_cpu_timer_del() posix_timer_unhash_and_free() // freed while still queued wait4() release_task(B) posix_cpu_timers_exit(B) cleanup_timerqueue() timerqueue_del() // use-after-free Move the POSIX timer cleanup right after de_thread() before any of the later failure conditions brings the task into do_exit(). [ tglx: Move the cleanup right after de_thread() ] Fixes: 55e8c8eb2c7b ("posix-cpu-timers: Store a reference to a pid not a task") Signed-off-by: Hyunwoo Kim Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner Tested-by: Kijo Park Reviewed-by: Oleg Nesterov Reviewed-by: Frederic Weisbecker Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Link: https://patch.msgid.link/ao7Q8miiuLAPVnWv@v4bel Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260911090541.627712075@kernel.org --- fs/exec.c | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++-------- 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-) diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c index d3081c8f7..819643408 100644 --- a/fs/exec.c +++ b/fs/exec.c @@ -1115,6 +1115,17 @@ static struct file *bprm_identity_file(const struct linux_binprm *bprm) return bprm->file; } +static void posixtimer_exec(struct task_struct *me) +{ +#ifdef CONFIG_POSIX_TIMERS + spin_lock_irq(&me->sighand->siglock); + posix_cpu_timers_exit(me); + spin_unlock_irq(&me->sighand->siglock); + exit_itimers(me); + flush_itimer_signals(); +#endif +} + /* * Calling this is the point of no return. None of the failures will be * seen by userspace since either the process is already taking a fatal @@ -1152,6 +1163,16 @@ int begin_new_exec(struct linux_binprm * bprm) retval = de_thread(me); if (retval) goto out; + + /* + * This must be done here to ensure that POSIX CPU timers which were + * armed on the current task are dequeued from me::posix_cputimers. + * Otherwise in case of a TID switch the deletion of the related POSIX + * timer would not remove an enqueued timer because the TID lookup + * of the old TID fails. + */ + posixtimer_exec(me); + /* see the comment in check_unsafe_exec() */ current->fs->in_exec = 0; /* @@ -1206,14 +1227,6 @@ int begin_new_exec(struct linux_binprm * bprm) if (retval) goto out_unlock; -#ifdef CONFIG_POSIX_TIMERS - spin_lock_irq(&me->sighand->siglock); - posix_cpu_timers_exit(me); - spin_unlock_irq(&me->sighand->siglock); - exit_itimers(me); - flush_itimer_signals(); -#endif - /* * Make the signal table private. */ -- cgit v1.3.1 From c21eaa72f02fc6e85621cbe09d303d8fb8bd39cd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Thomas Gleixner Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:48:30 +0200 Subject: posix-cpu-timers: Prevent freeing a timer which is queued on the expiry list Kijo analyzed another race in the POSIX CPU timer code: Commit bf635681c906 converted cpu_timer::firing from a tristate value to a boolean. This lost the distinction between "not owned by the firing list" and "still owned, but delivery was canceled". The resulting race is: expiry handler timer_settime() timer_delete() -------------- --------------- -------------- collect timer onto private firing list firing = true observes firing = true firing = false return TIMER_RETRY wait for handler observes firing = false finish deletion unhash and free timer resume list traversal read freed elist.next -> UAF The firing bit is clearly the wrong indicator since that commit. Check whether the timer is queued on the expiry list or not instead. If it is queued clear the firing bit to prevent signal delivery as before and return TIMER_RETRY so the caller unlocks the timer which allows the expiry code to make progress and remove it from the list. Fixes: bf635681c906 ("posix-cpu-timers: Cleanup the firing logic") Reported-by: Kijo Park Debugged-by: Kijo Park Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner Tested-by: Kijo Park Reviewed-by: Frederic Weisbecker Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org --- kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c | 40 ++++++++++++++++++++++------------------ 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-) diff --git a/kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c b/kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c index d73d31c79..0bf4fcd96 100644 --- a/kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c +++ b/kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c @@ -408,6 +408,7 @@ static int posix_cpu_timer_create(struct k_itimer *new_timer) new_timer->kclock = &clock_posix_cpu; timerqueue_init(&new_timer->it.cpu.node); + INIT_LIST_HEAD(&new_timer->it.cpu.elist); new_timer->it.cpu.pid = get_pid(pid); rcu_read_unlock(); return 0; @@ -565,6 +566,24 @@ static struct task_struct *timer_lock_sighand(struct k_itimer *timer, unsigned l return NULL; } +/* + * If the timer is queued on the expiry list, then it cannot be dequeued because + * the firing list is not protected by sighand->lock. The delivery path is + * waiting for the timer lock. So go back, unlock and retry. + */ +static bool posix_cpu_timer_on_expiry_list(struct k_itimer *timer) +{ + if (list_empty(&timer->it.cpu.elist)) + return false; + + /* + * Prevent signal delivery as there is no point in delivering a signal + * which is made obsolete right away. + */ + timer->it.cpu.firing = false; + return true; +} + /* * Clean up a CPU-clock timer that is about to be destroyed. * This is called from timer deletion with the timer already locked. @@ -580,18 +599,10 @@ static int posix_cpu_timer_del(struct k_itimer *timer) p = timer_lock_sighand(timer, &flags); if (likely(p)) { - if (timer->it.cpu.firing) { - /* - * Prevent signal delivery. The timer cannot be dequeued - * because it is on the firing list which is not protected - * by sighand->lock. The delivery path is waiting for - * the timer lock. So go back, unlock and retry. - */ - timer->it.cpu.firing = false; + if (posix_cpu_timer_on_expiry_list(timer)) ret = TIMER_RETRY; - } else { + else disarm_timer(timer, p); - } unlock_task_sighand(p, &flags); } @@ -731,14 +742,7 @@ static int posix_cpu_timer_set(struct k_itimer *timer, int timer_flags, /* Retrieve the current expiry time before disarming the timer */ old_expires = cpu_timer_getexpires(ctmr); - if (unlikely(timer->it.cpu.firing)) { - /* - * Prevent signal delivery. The timer cannot be dequeued - * because it is on the firing list which is not protected - * by sighand->lock. The delivery path is waiting for - * the timer lock. So go back, unlock and retry. - */ - timer->it.cpu.firing = false; + if (posix_cpu_timer_on_expiry_list(timer)) { ret = TIMER_RETRY; } else { cpu_timer_dequeue(ctmr); -- cgit v1.3.1