Critical · published August 22, 2026
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 <[email protected]>