ptp: fix the race between the release of ptp_clock and cdev

In a case when a ptp chardev (like /dev/ptp0) is open but an underlying
device is removed, closing this file leads to a race. This reproduces
easily in a kvm virtual machine:

ts# cat openptp0.c
int main() { ... fp = fopen("/dev/ptp0", "r"); ... sleep(10); }
ts# uname -r
5.5.0-rc3-46cf053e
ts# cat /proc/cmdline
... slub_debug=FZP
ts# modprobe ptp_kvm
ts# ./openptp0 &
[1] 670
opened /dev/ptp0, sleeping 10s...
ts# rmmod ptp_kvm
ts# ls /dev/ptp*
ls: cannot access '/dev/ptp*': No such file or directory
ts# ...woken up
[ 48.010809] general protection fault: 0000 [#1] SMP
[ 48.012502] CPU: 6 PID: 658 Comm: openptp0 Not tainted 5.5.0-rc3-46cf053e #25
[ 48.014624] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), ...
[ 48.016270] RIP: 0010:module_put.part.0+0x7/0x80
[ 48.017939] RSP: 0018:ffffb3850073be00 EFLAGS: 00010202
[ 48.018339] RAX: 000000006b6b6b6b RBX: 6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b RCX: ffff89a476c00ad0
[ 48.018936] RDX: fffff65a08d3ea08 RSI: 0000000000000247 RDI: 6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b
[ 48.019470] ... ^^^ a slub poison
[ 48.023854] Call Trace:
[ 48.024050] __fput+0x21f/0x240
[ 48.024288] task_work_run+0x79/0x90
[ 48.024555] do_exit+0x2af/0xab0
[ 48.024799] ? vfs_write+0x16a/0x190
[ 48.025082] do_group_exit+0x35/0x90
[ 48.025387] __x64_sys_exit_group+0xf/0x10
[ 48.025737] do_syscall_64+0x3d/0x130
[ 48.026056] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xa9
[ 48.026479] RIP: 0033:0x7f53b12082f6
[ 48.026792] ...
[ 48.030945] Modules linked in: ptp i6300esb watchdog [last unloaded: ptp_kvm]
[ 48.045001] Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed!

This happens in:

static void __fput(struct file *file)
{ ...
if (file->f_op->release)
file->f_op->release(inode, file); <<< cdev is kfree'd here
if (unlikely(S_ISCHR(inode->i_mode) && inode->i_cdev != NULL &&
!(mode & FMODE_PATH))) {
cdev_put(inode->i_cdev); <<< cdev fields are accessed here

Namely:

__fput()
posix_clock_release()
kref_put(&clk->kref, delete_clock) <<< the last reference
delete_clock()
delete_ptp_clock()
kfree(ptp) <<< cdev is embedded in ptp
cdev_put
module_put(p->owner) <<< *p is kfree'd, bang!

Here cdev is embedded in posix_clock which is embedded in ptp_clock.
The race happens because ptp_clock's lifetime is controlled by two
refcounts: kref and cdev.kobj in posix_clock. This is wrong.

Make ptp_clock's sysfs device a parent of cdev with cdev_device_add()
created especially for such cases. This way the parent device with its
ptp_clock is not released until all references to the cdev are released.
This adds a requirement that an initialized but not exposed struct
device should be provided to posix_clock_register() by a caller instead
of a simple dev_t.

This approach was adopted from the commit 72139dfa2464 ("watchdog: Fix
the race between the release of watchdog_core_data and cdev"). See
details of the implementation in the commit 233ed09d7fda ("chardev: add
helper function to register char devs with a struct device").

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-fsdevel/[e-mail]/T/#u
Analyzed-by: Stephen Johnston <[e-mail]>
Analyzed-by: Vern Lovejoy <[e-mail]>
Signed-off-by: Vladis Dronov <[e-mail]>
Acked-by: Richard Cochran <[e-mail]>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <[e-mail]>

drivers/ptp/ptp_clock.c

···
 	.read		= ptp_read,
 };
 
-static void delete_ptp_clock(struct posix_clock *pc)
+static void ptp_clock_release(struct device *dev)
 {
-	struct ptp_clock *ptp = container_of(pc, struct ptp_clock, clock);
+	struct ptp_clock *ptp = container_of(dev, struct ptp_clock, dev);
 
 	mutex_destroy(&ptp->tsevq_mux);
 	mutex_destroy(&ptp->pincfg_mux);
···
 	}
 
 	ptp->clock.ops = ptp_clock_ops;
-	ptp->clock.release = delete_ptp_clock;
 	ptp->info = info;
 	ptp->devid = MKDEV(major, index);
 	ptp->index = index;
···
 	if (err)
 		goto no_pin_groups;
 
-	/* Create a new device in our class. */
-	ptp->dev = device_create_with_groups(ptp_class, parent, ptp->devid,
-					     ptp, ptp->pin_attr_groups,
-					     "ptp%d", ptp->index);
-	if (IS_ERR(ptp->dev)) {
-		err = PTR_ERR(ptp->dev);
-		goto no_device;
-	}
-
 	/* Register a new PPS source. */
 	if (info->pps) {
 		struct pps_source_info pps;
···
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* Create a posix clock. */
-	err = posix_clock_register(&ptp->clock, ptp->devid);
+	/* Initialize a new device of our class in our clock structure. */
+	device_initialize(&ptp->dev);
+	ptp->dev.devt = ptp->devid;
+	ptp->dev.class = ptp_class;
+	ptp->dev.parent = parent;
+	ptp->dev.groups = ptp->pin_attr_groups;
+	ptp->dev.release = ptp_clock_release;
+	dev_set_drvdata(&ptp->dev, ptp);
+	dev_set_name(&ptp->dev, "ptp%d", ptp->index);
+
+	/* Create a posix clock and link it to the device. */
+	err = posix_clock_register(&ptp->clock, &ptp->dev);
 	if (err) {
 		pr_err("failed to create posix clock\n");
 		goto no_clock;
···
 	if (ptp->pps_source)
 		pps_unregister_source(ptp->pps_source);
 no_pps:
-	device_destroy(ptp_class, ptp->devid);
-no_device:
 	ptp_cleanup_pin_groups(ptp);
 no_pin_groups:
 	if (ptp->kworker)
···
 	if (ptp->pps_source)
 		pps_unregister_source(ptp->pps_source);
 
-	device_destroy(ptp_class, ptp->devid);
 	ptp_cleanup_pin_groups(ptp);
 
 	posix_clock_unregister(&ptp->clock);

drivers/ptp/ptp_private.h

···
 
 struct ptp_clock {
 	struct posix_clock clock;
-	struct device *dev;
+	struct device dev;
 	struct ptp_clock_info *info;
 	dev_t devid;
 	int index; /* index into clocks.map */

include/linux/posix-clock.h

···
  *
  * @ops:     Functional interface to the clock
  * @cdev:    Character device instance for this clock
- * @kref:    Reference count.
+ * @dev:     Pointer to the clock's device.
  * @rwsem:   Protects the 'zombie' field from concurrent access.
  * @zombie:  If 'zombie' is true, then the hardware has disappeared.
- * @release: A function to free the structure when the reference count reaches
- *           zero. May be NULL if structure is statically allocated.
  *
  * Drivers should embed their struct posix_clock within a private
  * structure, obtaining a reference to it during callbacks using
  * container_of().
+ *
+ * Drivers should supply an initialized but not exposed struct device
+ * to posix_clock_register(). It is used to manage lifetime of the
+ * driver's private structure. It's 'release' field should be set to
+ * a release function for this private structure.
  */
 struct posix_clock {
 	struct posix_clock_operations ops;
 	struct cdev cdev;
-	struct kref kref;
+	struct device *dev;
 	struct rw_semaphore rwsem;
 	bool zombie;
-	void (*release)(struct posix_clock *clk);
 };
 
 /**
  * posix_clock_register() - register a new clock
- * @clk:   Pointer to the clock. Caller must provide 'ops' and 'release'
- * @devid: Allocated device id
+ * @clk:   Pointer to the clock. Caller must provide 'ops' field
+ * @dev:   Pointer to the initialized device. Caller must provide
+ *         'release' field
  *
  * A clock driver calls this function to register itself with the
  * clock device subsystem. If 'clk' points to dynamically allocated
···
  *
  * Returns zero on success, non-zero otherwise.
  */
-int posix_clock_register(struct posix_clock *clk, dev_t devid);
+int posix_clock_register(struct posix_clock *clk, struct device *dev);
 
 /**
  * posix_clock_unregister() - unregister a clock

kernel/time/posix-clock.c

···
 
 #include "posix-timers.h"
 
-static void delete_clock(struct kref *kref);
-
 /*
  * Returns NULL if the posix_clock instance attached to 'fp' is old and stale.
  */
···
 		err = 0;
 
 	if (!err) {
-		kref_get(&clk->kref);
+		get_device(clk->dev);
 		fp->private_data = clk;
 	}
 out:
···
 	if (clk->ops.release)
 		err = clk->ops.release(clk);
 
-	kref_put(&clk->kref, delete_clock);
+	put_device(clk->dev);
 
 	fp->private_data = NULL;
 
···
 #endif
 };
 
-int posix_clock_register(struct posix_clock *clk, dev_t devid)
+int posix_clock_register(struct posix_clock *clk, struct device *dev)
 {
 	int err;
 
-	kref_init(&clk->kref);
 	init_rwsem(&clk->rwsem);
 
 	cdev_init(&clk->cdev, &posix_clock_file_operations);
+	err = cdev_device_add(&clk->cdev, dev);
+	if (err) {
+		pr_err("%s unable to add device %d:%d\n",
+			dev_name(dev), MAJOR(dev->devt), MINOR(dev->devt));
+		return err;
+	}
 	clk->cdev.owner = clk->ops.owner;
-	err = cdev_add(&clk->cdev, devid, 1);
+	clk->dev = dev;
 
-	return err;
+	return 0;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(posix_clock_register);
 
-static void delete_clock(struct kref *kref)
-{
-	struct posix_clock *clk = container_of(kref, struct posix_clock, kref);
-
-	if (clk->release)
-		clk->release(clk);
-}
-
 void posix_clock_unregister(struct posix_clock *clk)
 {
-	cdev_del(&clk->cdev);
+	cdev_device_del(&clk->cdev, clk->dev);
 
 	down_write(&clk->rwsem);
 	clk->zombie = true;
 	up_write(&clk->rwsem);
 
-	kref_put(&clk->kref, delete_clock);
+	put_device(clk->dev);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(posix_clock_unregister);