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

net/rds: Fix circular locking dependency in rds_tcp_tune

syzbot reported a circular locking dependency in rds_tcp_tune() where sk_net_refcnt_upgrade() is called while holding the socket lock:

====================================================== WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected

kworker/u10:8/15040 is trying to acquire lock: ffffffff8e9aaf80 (fs_reclaim){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x4b/0x6f0

but task is already holding lock: ffff88805a3c1ce0 (k-sk_lock-AF_INET6){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: rds_tcp_tune+0xd7/0x930

The issue occurs because sk_net_refcnt_upgrade() performs memory allocation (via get_net_track() -> ref_tracker_alloc()) while the socket lock is held, creating a circular dependency with fs_reclaim.

Fix this by moving sk_net_refcnt_upgrade() outside the socket lock critical section. This is safe because the fields modified by the sk_net_refcnt_upgrade() call (sk_net_refcnt, ns_tracker) are not accessed by any concurrent code path at this point.

v2:

• Corrected fixes tag
• check patch line wrap nits
• ai commentary nits

Weakness

The product does not properly acquire or release a lock on a resource, leading to unexpected resource state changes and behaviors.

Affected Software

Extended Description

Locking is a type of synchronization behavior that ensures that multiple independently-operating processes or threads do not interfere with each other when accessing the same resource. All processes/threads are expected to follow the same steps for locking. If these steps are not followed precisely - or if no locking is done at all - then another process/thread could modify the shared resource in a way that is not visible or predictable to the original process. This can lead to data or memory corruption, denial of service, etc.

Potential Mitigations

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/25.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/26.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/27.html

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/026bbaeeab9e04534ee58882b6447300629b42f6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a877ececd6daa002a9a0002cd0fbca6592a9244
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6ce948fa54599f369ff7fe8b793a6aae4b0762b2
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8519e6883a942e510f33a0e634e27bcc3a844a40
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8babb271403378ba6836f6c8599c5313d0e2355d