In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tracing: Fix resource leak on mmiotrace trace_pipe close
The mmiotrace tracer was added May 12th 2008. At that time, resources
created in pipe_open() could not be freed because there was not
pipe_close function pointer of the tracer. The pipe_close function pointer
was added in December 7th, 2009, but the mmiotrace tracer was not updated.
mmio_pipe_open() allocates a header_iter and takes a pci_dev reference
when trace_pipe is opened. mmio_close() frees them, but it was only
wired to the tracer's .close callback.
tracing_release_pipe() invokes .pipe_close, not .close, when the
trace_pipe file is released. As a result, closing trace_pipe with the
mmiotrace tracer active leaked the header_iter allocation and left a
stale pci_dev reference.
Set .pipe_close to mmio_close, matching how function_graph wires both
callbacks to the same handler.
Note, if the trace_pipe is read to completion, it will clean up the
resources, but if one were to run:
# head -n 1 /sys/kernel/tracing/trace_pipe
VERSION 20070824
Over and over again, it would trigger a massive leak.