audit_add_watch stores locally krule->watch without taking a reference on watch. Then, it calls audit_add_to_parent, and uses the watch stored locally. Unfortunately, it is possible that audit_add_to_parent updates krule->watch. When it happens, it also drops a reference of watch which could free the watch. How to reproduce (with KASAN enabled): auditctl -w /etc/passwd -F success=0 -k test_passwd auditctl -w /etc/passwd -F success=1 -k test_passwd2 The second call to auditctl triggers the use-after-free, because audit_to_parent updates krule->watch to use a previous existing watch and drops the reference to the newly created watch. To fix the issue, we grab a reference of watch and we release it at the end of the function. Signed-off-by: Ronny Chevalier <ronny.chevalier(a)hp.com&gt; --- v3: - Move audit_get_watch before audit_get_nd since it is using it and call audit_put_watch if it fails. v2: - Move audit_get_watch before audit_find_parent. In the case of audit_get_nd failing. --- kernel/audit_watch.c | 12 +++++++++++- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/kernel/audit_watch.c b/kernel/audit_watch.c index 6f249bdf2d84..787c7afdf829 100644 --- a/kernel/audit_watch.c +++ b/kernel/audit_watch.c @@ -420,6 +420,13 @@ int audit_add_watch(struct audit_krule *krule, struct list_head **list) struct path parent_path; int h, ret = 0; + /* + * When we will be calling audit_add_to_parent, krule->watch might have + * been updated and watch might have been freed. + * So we need to keep a reference of watch. + */ + audit_get_watch(watch); + mutex_unlock(&audit_filter_mutex); /* Avoid calling path_lookup under audit_filter_mutex. */ @@ -428,8 +435,10 @@ int audit_add_watch(struct audit_krule *krule, struct list_head **list) /* caller expects mutex locked */ mutex_lock(&audit_filter_mutex); - if (ret) + if (ret) { + audit_put_watch(watch); return ret; + } /* either find an old parent or attach a new one */ parent = audit_find_parent(d_backing_inode(parent_path.dentry)); @@ -447,6 +456,7 @@ int audit_add_watch(struct audit_krule *krule, struct list_head **list) *list = &audit_inode_hash[h]; error: path_put(&parent_path); + audit_put_watch(watch); return ret; } -- 2.18.0