published October 6, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
hwmon: (pwm-fan) Stop RPM timer before freeing tach data
sample_timer() rearms the RPM timer and accesses the devm-managed
ctx->tachs and ctx->pulses_per_revolution arrays. The cleanup action
which stops the timer is registered before those arrays are allocated.
Since devres releases entries in reverse order, driver detach can free
the arrays before pwm_fan_cleanup() shuts down the timer. A timer expiry
in that window accesses the freed tach data.
With a KASAN kernel, a test-only kprobe delayed entry to
pwm_fan_cleanup() while normal sysfs unbind ran. Each of three runs
reported three four-byte reads and two four-byte writes in sample_timer()
after its backing devm allocations had been freed. The helper did not
invoke the timer callback, cleanup actions or free functions.
With the fix, three matching unbind runs completed without KASAN, BUG,
WARNING, Oops or panic. Instrumentation confirmed that timer retirement
completed before the first timer backing allocation was released.
Split timer retirement from the power cleanup and register its devres
action after the timer backing data and IRQ actions are installed. This
preserves the early power rollback action while ensuring the timer is
retired before its backing data is released. Use timer_shutdown_sync()
because the callback can rearm itself.