Critical · published August 26, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
block: stop the timeout timer when releasing a never added disk
disk_release() undoes blk_mq_init_allocated_queue() for a disk whose
probe failed before add_disk(), but it only calls blk_mq_exit_queue().
Nothing there stops q->timeout, and that timer rolls forward: it stays
pending until it next expires, not until the last request completes.
So if the driver issued any I/O before adding the disk, the
request_queue is freed while still linked into a timer wheel bucket.
Commit 6f8191fdf41d ("block: simplify disk shutdown") dropped the
blk_cleanup_queue() call that used to stop it. __del_gendisk() and
blk_mq_destroy_queue() still do; only the probe failure path lost it.
nvme gets there because nvme_update_ns_info() submits Report Zones or
FDP io-mgmt-recv on ns->queue before the disk is added, so a later
failure - a concurrent reset setting NVME_CTRL_FROZEN, or
device_add_disk() failing - lands in put_disk() with the timer armed:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in detach_if_pending+0x30c/0x340
Write of size 8 at addr ffff888004d71310 by task kworker/u8:2/37
__timer_delete_sync+0x156/0x240 kernel/time/timer.c:1621
blk_sync_queue+0x22/0x40 block/blk-core.c:222
nvme_sync_queues+0x100/0x150 drivers/nvme/host/core.c:5362
nvme_reset_work+0x138/0x930 drivers/nvme/host/pci.c:3264
Allocated by task 34:
__blk_mq_alloc_disk+0x33/0x100 block/blk-mq.c:4462
nvme_alloc_ns+0x290/0x3870 drivers/nvme/host/core.c:4146
Freed by task 0:
blk_free_queue_rcu+0x3a/0x50 block/blk-core.c:254
rcu_core+0xc10/0x1730 kernel/rcu/tree.c:2857
The queue being synced there is ctrl->admin_q, only a victim sharing a
timer wheel bucket with the freed queue's dangling entry; other runs
tripped in enqueue_timer(), __run_timers() or blk_mq_timeout_work().
Failing nvme_alloc_ns() with a debug patch makes it deterministic: one
leaked timer trips KASAN within seconds, while 1987 patched releases
produced no splat.
Stop the timer and the queue work items before blk_mq_exit_queue(), like
blk_mq_destroy_queue() does.
Found by FuzzNvme.