Subject: Re: [PATCH bpf] bpf, sockmap: Fix af_unix null-ptr-deref in proto update

From: Martin KaFai Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:41:17 -0800

On 1/29/26 8:47 AM, Michal Luczaj wrote:
> BPF_MAP_UPDATE_ELEM races unix_stream_connect(): when
> sock_map_sk_state_allowed() passes (sk_state == TCP_ESTABLISHED),
> unix_peer(sk) in unix_stream_bpf_update_proto() may still return NULL.
> 
> 	T0 bpf				T1 connect
> 	------				----------
> 
> 				WRITE_ONCE(sk->sk_state, TCP_ESTABLISHED)
> sock_map_sk_state_allowed(sk)
> ...
> sk_pair = unix_peer(sk)
> sock_hold(sk_pair)
> 				sock_hold(newsk)
> 				smp_mb__after_atomic()
> 				unix_peer(sk) = newsk
> 
> BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000080
> RIP: 0010:unix_stream_bpf_update_proto+0xa0/0x1b0
> Call Trace:
>   sock_map_link+0x564/0x8b0
>   sock_map_update_common+0x6e/0x340
>   sock_map_update_elem_sys+0x17d/0x240
>   __sys_bpf+0x26db/0x3250
>   __x64_sys_bpf+0x21/0x30
>   do_syscall_64+0x6b/0x3a0
>   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
> 
> Follow-up to discussion at
> https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/[email-masked]/.

It is a long thread to dig. Please summarize the discussion in the 
commit message.

 From looking at this commit message, if the existing lock_sock held by 
update_elem is not useful for af_unix, it is not clear why a new test 
"!sk_pair" on top of the existing WRITE_ONCE(sk->sk_state...) is a fix. 
A minor thing is sock_map_sk_state_allowed doesn't have 
READ_ONCE(sk->sk_state) for sk_is_stream_unix also.

If unix_stream_connect does not hold lock_sock, can unix_state_lock be 
used here? lock_sock has already been taken, update_elem should not be 
the hot path.

> 
> Fixes: 8866730aed51 ("bpf, sockmap: af_unix stream sockets need to hold ref for pair sock")
> Suggested-by: Kuniyuki Iwashima <[email-masked]>
> Signed-off-by: Michal Luczaj <[email-masked]>
> ---
> Re-triggered while working on an unrelated selftest:
> https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/[email-masked]/
> ---
>   net/unix/unix_bpf.c | 3 +++
>   1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/net/unix/unix_bpf.c b/net/unix/unix_bpf.c
> index e0d30d6d22ac..57f3124c9d8d 100644
> --- a/net/unix/unix_bpf.c
> +++ b/net/unix/unix_bpf.c
> @@ -185,6 +185,9 @@ int unix_stream_bpf_update_proto(struct sock *sk, struct sk_psock *psock, bool r
>   	 */
>   	if (!psock->sk_pair) {
>   		sk_pair = unix_peer(sk);
> +		if (unlikely(!sk_pair))
> +			return -EINVAL;
> +
>   		sock_hold(sk_pair);
>   		psock->sk_pair = sk_pair;
>   	}
> 
> ---
> base-commit: 63804fed149a6750ffd28610c5c1c98cce6bd377
> change-id: 20260129-unix-proto-update-null-ptr-deref-6a2733bcbbf8
> 
> Best regards,