published August 22, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in module event cache removal
A module-only event filter such as ":mod:foo" is cached with a NULL
event_mod->match when foo has not been loaded. If a later write tries to
remove a specific match from the same module, remove_cache_mod() passes
the NULL cached match to strcmp(), causing a NULL pointer dereference.
The issue can be reproduced from userspace:
echo ':mod:trace_events_kunit_missing' > /sys/kernel/tracing/set_event
echo '!foo_bar:mod:trace_events_kunit_missing' >> /sys/kernel/tracing/set_event
The second write must be a concatenation (">>") to not include O_TRUNC as
that would cause ftrace_clear_events() to clear the cached modules lines.
The crash was reproduced on x86_64 QEMU while KUnit workers contended on
the event tracing path:
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
RIP: 0010:strcmp+0x10/0x30
Call Trace:
__ftrace_set_clr_event_nolock+0x373/0x4a0
ftrace_set_clr_event+0xf0/0x180
ftrace_event_write+0xdf/0x110
vfs_write+0xf6/0x440
ksys_write+0x68/0xe0
do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x540
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Check event_mod->match before comparing it, consistent with the existing
NULL checks for the cached system and event fields. The mismatched removal
continues to return -EINVAL; a broad cached module filter is removed with
"!:mod:<module>".