CVE-2026-74628 PUBLISHED

net/x25: fix use-after-free of the socket by its timers

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 15.08.2026 Published: 22.08.2026 Updated: 22.08.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/x25: fix use-after-free of the socket by its timers

The x25 timers are armed with mod_timer() and cancelled with timer_delete(), so a pending timer holds no reference on the socket and a cancel does not wait for a callback already running on another CPU.

x25_heartbeat_expiry() also rearms unconditionally, so it can reinstall sk->sk_timer after __x25_destroy_socket() has passed its cancel point. The following __sock_put() frees the socket while the timer is still queued, and the next expiry uses freed memory. KASAN reports a slab-use-after-free on the kmalloc-2k object freed by close().

timer_delete_sync() cannot be used here: x25_heartbeat_expiry() and x25_timer_expiry() both reach the cancels from inside the timer they would wait on, through __x25_destroy_socket() and x25_disconnect().

Arm the timers with sk_reset_timer() and cancel them with sk_stop_timer() so that an armed timer owns a reference, and release it in both expiry handlers. Rearm the heartbeat only while sk_hashed(sk) is still true, since __x25_destroy_socket() unlinks the socket before dropping it. Arm the deferred destroy timer the same way and drop its reference in x25_destroy_timer().

Reproduced on net with KASAN, with the heartbeat period shortened so the window recurs. With this patch the reproducer no longer triggers a report and /proc/net/x25 drains.

Discovered by XBOW, triaged by Baul Lee baul.lee@xbow.com

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 4bc522b33438fefc3272840ae5988771863a4f1f (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to e92c7e2b41d1528a830bc64c5e4e46dfa8133dda (excl.)
  • affected from 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 to 2195424c3da2ef1829a63b807e3a900a90e57d85 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 2.6.12 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 2.6.12 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.45 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.1.9 to 7.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2 to * (incl.)

References