published August 15, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: udp_tunnel: fix memory leak in udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()
syzbot reported a memory leak [1] in the UDP tunnel NIC offload code.
When device registration fails (e.g. in register_netdevice()), netdev core
unwinds by sending a single NETDEV_UNREGISTER notification. If work was queued
during NETDEV_REGISTER (utn->work_pending is set), udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()
returns early:
if (utn->work_pending)
return;
Because failed registrations do not enter netdev_wait_allrefs_any(), no
subsequent NETDEV_UNREGISTER rebroadcast will ever occur. As a result, the
struct udp_tunnel_nic allocated in udp_tunnel_nic_alloc() is leaked
permanently.
Fix this by removing the early return. Instead, synchronously cancel any
pending work with cancel_delayed_work_sync() before freeing @utn.
To be able to call cancel_delayed_work_sync() while holding RTNL (the work also
needs RTNL), switch udp_tunnel_nic_device_sync_work() to rtnl_trylock(). If RTNL
is contended, requeue the work with a 1 jiffy delay (via queue_delayed_work())
to prevent high CPU contention while waiting for RTNL lock.
The utn->work_pending bookkeeping is no longer needed and is removed, as
the workqueue core already tracks the pending/running state of the work.
[1]
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff888127d5f840 (size 96):
comm "syz-executor", pid 5806, jiffies 4294942188
backtrace (crc 99fdb6c8):
__kmalloc_noprof+0x3bf/0x550
udp_tunnel_nic_alloc net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:756 [inline]
udp_tunnel_nic_register net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:833 [inline]
udp_tunnel_nic_netdevice_event+0x804/0xab0 net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:931
notifier_call_chain+0x59/0x160 kernel/notifier.c:85
call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7d/0xb0 net/core/dev.c:2250
register_netdevice+0xc10/0xeb0 net/core/dev.c:11478