Subject: [PATCH net-next v2 1/8] net: avoid potential race between netdev_get_by_index_lock() and netns switch

From: Jakub Kicinski <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 2025 12:59:48 -0700

netdev_get_by_index_lock() performs following steps:

  rcu_lock();
  dev = lookup(netns, ifindex);
  dev_get(dev);
  rcu_unlock();
  [... lock & validate the dev ...]
  return dev

Validation right now only checks if the device is registered but since
the lookup is netns-aware we must also protect against the device
switching netns right after we dropped the RCU lock. Otherwise
the caller in netns1 may get a pointer to a device which has just
switched to netns2.

We can't hold the lock for the entire netns change process (because of
the NETDEV_UNREGISTER notifier), and there's no existing marking to
indicate that the netns is unlisted because of netns move, so add one.

AFAIU none of the existing netdev_get_by_index_lock() callers can
suffer from this problem (NAPI code double checks the netns membership
and other callers are either under rtnl_lock or not ns-sensitive),
so this patch does not have to be treated as a fix.

Reviewed-by: Joe Damato <[email-masked]>
Acked-by: Stanislav Fomichev <[email-masked]>
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <[email-masked]>
---
 include/linux/netdevice.h |  6 +++++-
 net/core/dev.h            |  2 +-
 net/core/dev.c            | 25 ++++++++++++++++++-------
 3 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h
index cf3b6445817b..8e9be80bc167 100644
--- a/include/linux/netdevice.h
+++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h
@@ -1952,6 +1952,7 @@ enum netdev_reg_state {
  *	@priv_destructor:	Called from unregister
  *	@npinfo:		XXX: need comments on this one
  * 	@nd_net:		Network namespace this network device is inside
+ *				protected by @lock
  *
  * 	@ml_priv:	Mid-layer private
  *	@ml_priv_type:  Mid-layer private type
@@ -2359,6 +2360,9 @@ struct net_device {
 
 	bool dismantle;
 
+	/** @moving_ns: device is changing netns, protected by @lock */
+	bool moving_ns;
+
 	enum {
 		RTNL_LINK_INITIALIZED,
 		RTNL_LINK_INITIALIZING,
@@ -2521,7 +2525,7 @@ struct net_device {
 	 *	@net_shaper_hierarchy, @reg_state, @threaded
 	 *
 	 * Double protects:
-	 *	@up
+	 *	@up, @moving_ns, @nd_net
 	 *
 	 * Double ops protects:
 	 *	@real_num_rx_queues, @real_num_tx_queues
diff --git a/net/core/dev.h b/net/core/dev.h
index 710abc05ebdb..e7bf21f52fc7 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.h
+++ b/net/core/dev.h
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ netdev_napi_by_id_lock(struct net *net, unsigned int napi_id);
 struct net_device *dev_get_by_napi_id(unsigned int napi_id);
 
 struct net_device *netdev_get_by_index_lock(struct net *net, int ifindex);
-struct net_device *__netdev_put_lock(struct net_device *dev);
+struct net_device *__netdev_put_lock(struct net_device *dev, struct net *net);
 struct net_device *
 netdev_xa_find_lock(struct net *net, struct net_device *dev,
 		    unsigned long *index);
diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 4ccc6dc5303e..8c13e5339cc9 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -828,7 +828,7 @@ netdev_napi_by_id_lock(struct net *net, unsigned int napi_id)
 	dev_hold(dev);
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
-	dev = __netdev_put_lock(dev);
+	dev = __netdev_put_lock(dev, net);
 	if (!dev)
 		return NULL;
 
@@ -1039,10 +1039,11 @@ struct net_device *dev_get_by_napi_id(unsigned int napi_id)
  * This helper is intended for locking net_device after it has been looked up
  * using a lockless lookup helper. Lock prevents the instance from going away.
  */
-struct net_device *__netdev_put_lock(struct net_device *dev)
+struct net_device *__netdev_put_lock(struct net_device *dev, struct net *net)
 {
 	netdev_lock(dev);
-	if (dev->reg_state > NETREG_REGISTERED) {
+	if (dev->reg_state > NETREG_REGISTERED ||
+	    dev->moving_ns || !net_eq(dev_net(dev), net)) {
 		netdev_unlock(dev);
 		dev_put(dev);
 		return NULL;
@@ -1070,7 +1071,7 @@ struct net_device *netdev_get_by_index_lock(struct net *net, int ifindex)
 	if (!dev)
 		return NULL;
 
-	return __netdev_put_lock(dev);
+	return __netdev_put_lock(dev, net);
 }
 
 struct net_device *
@@ -1090,7 +1091,7 @@ netdev_xa_find_lock(struct net *net, struct net_device *dev,
 		dev_hold(dev);
 		rcu_read_unlock();
 
-		dev = __netdev_put_lock(dev);
+		dev = __netdev_put_lock(dev, net);
 		if (dev)
 			return dev;
 
@@ -12157,7 +12158,11 @@ int __dev_change_net_namespace(struct net_device *dev, struct net *net,
 	netif_close(dev);
 	/* And unlink it from device chain */
 	unlist_netdevice(dev);
-	netdev_unlock_ops(dev);
+
+	if (!netdev_need_ops_lock(dev))
+		netdev_lock(dev);
+	dev->moving_ns = true;
+	netdev_unlock(dev);
 
 	synchronize_net();
 
@@ -12193,7 +12198,9 @@ int __dev_change_net_namespace(struct net_device *dev, struct net *net,
 	move_netdevice_notifiers_dev_net(dev, net);
 
 	/* Actually switch the network namespace */
+	netdev_lock(dev);
 	dev_net_set(dev, net);
+	netdev_unlock(dev);
 	dev->ifindex = new_ifindex;
 
 	if (new_name[0]) {
@@ -12219,7 +12226,11 @@ int __dev_change_net_namespace(struct net_device *dev, struct net *net,
 	err = netdev_change_owner(dev, net_old, net);
 	WARN_ON(err);
 
-	netdev_lock_ops(dev);
+	netdev_lock(dev);
+	dev->moving_ns = false;
+	if (!netdev_need_ops_lock(dev))
+		netdev_unlock(dev);
+
 	/* Add the device back in the hashes */
 	list_netdevice(dev);
 	/* Notify protocols, that a new device appeared. */
-- 
2.49.0