published October 6, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
dmaengine: wait for RCU readers before releasing dma_device
dma_issue_pending_all() walks the dma_device_list with
list_for_each_entry_rcu() under rcu_read_lock(). dma_device_release()
unlinks the device with list_del_rcu() and then calls
device->device_release() (which in many drivers, such as plx_dma.c,
directly calls kfree()).
Because there is no grace period between unlinking the device and
freeing it, concurrent RCU readers in dma_issue_pending_all() can
access the device after it has been freed.
The lockless walk originally relied on clients holding a dmaengine
reference to pin the provider module, and therefore the device, for as
long as they might traverse the list. Commit 8ad342a86359 ("dmaengine:
Add reference counting to dma_device struct") decoupled the dma_device
lifetime from the module reference, so the device can now be released
while a reader is still walking the list.
Add synchronize_rcu() before the device is freed, so RCU readers are
guaranteed to have finished. Keep it unconditional: providers that do
not implement device_release() free the device themselves once
dma_async_device_unregister() returns. This call will delay for a grace
period with dma_list_mutex held, which is safe and only teardown path is
delayed.