Subject: [PATCH net 1/2] ovpn: tcp - use cached peer pointer in ovpn_tcp_close()

From: David Carlier <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 12 May 2026 05:19:12 +0100

ovpn_tcp_close() loads the ovpn_socket via rcu_dereference_sk_user_data()
under rcu_read_lock(), takes a reference on sock->peer, caches the peer
pointer in a local, and drops the read lock. It then passes sock->peer
(rather than the cached local) to ovpn_peer_del(), re-dereferencing the
ovpn_socket after the RCU read section has ended.

Unlike ovpn_tcp_sendmsg(), which uses the same "load under RCU, use
after unlock" pattern but is protected by lock_sock() held across the
function, ovpn_tcp_close() runs without the socket lock: inet_release()
invokes sk_prot->close() without taking lock_sock first.

ovpn_socket_release() can therefore complete its kref_put -> detach ->
synchronize_rcu -> kfree(sock) sequence concurrently, in the window
after ovpn_tcp_close() drops rcu_read_lock() but before it dereferences
sock->peer. The synchronize_rcu() in ovpn_socket_release() protects
readers that use the dereferenced pointer inside the RCU read section,
not those that escape the pointer to a local and use it afterwards.

A reproducer follows the pattern of commit 94560267d6c4 ("ovpn: tcp -
don't deref NULL sk_socket member after tcp_close()"): trigger a peer
removal (keepalive expiration or netlink OVPN_CMD_DEL_PEER) at the same
moment userspace closes the TCP fd. That commit fixed the detach-side
of the same race window; this one fixes the close-side at a different
victim.

Use the already-loaded peer local, which is held by the
ovpn_peer_hold() taken under RCU and is the correct argument anyway.
The remaining lines in the function already use peer; switching this
call makes the function consistent and removes the dangling sock
dereference.

Fixes: 11851cbd60ea ("ovpn: implement TCP transport")
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-7
Signed-off-by: David Carlier <[email-masked]>
---
 drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c b/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c
index 65054cc84be5..ed4782de141a 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ovpn/tcp.c
@@ -588,7 +588,7 @@ static void ovpn_tcp_close(struct sock *sk, long timeout)
 	peer = sock->peer;
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
-	ovpn_peer_del(sock->peer, OVPN_DEL_PEER_REASON_TRANSPORT_DISCONNECT);
+	ovpn_peer_del(peer, OVPN_DEL_PEER_REASON_TRANSPORT_DISCONNECT);
 	peer->tcp.sk_cb.prot->close(sk, timeout);
 	ovpn_peer_put(peer);
 }
-- 
2.53.0