[PATCH] media: mediatek: vcodec: fix use-after-free in encoder release path
Fan Wu
fanwu01 at zju.edu.cn
Wed Mar 4 01:35:06 PST 2026
The fops_vcodec_release() function frees the context structure (ctx)
without first cancelling any pending or running work in ctx->encode_work.
This creates a race window where the workqueue handler (mtk_venc_worker)
may still be accessing the context memory after it has been freed.
Race condition:
CPU 0 (release path) CPU 1 (workqueue)
--------------------- ------------------
fops_vcodec_release()
v4l2_m2m_ctx_release()
v4l2_m2m_cancel_job()
// waits for m2m job "done"
mtk_venc_worker()
v4l2_m2m_job_finish()
// m2m job "done"
// BUT worker still running!
// post-job_finish access:
other ctx dereferences
// UAF if ctx already freed
// returns (job "done")
kfree(ctx) // ctx freed
Root cause: The v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() only waits for the m2m job
lifecycle (via TRANS_RUNNING flag), not the workqueue lifecycle.
After v4l2_m2m_job_finish() is called, the m2m framework considers
the job complete and v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() returns, but the worker
function continues executing and may still access ctx.
The work is queued during encode operations via:
queue_work(ctx->dev->encode_workqueue, &ctx->encode_work)
The worker function accesses ctx->m2m_ctx, ctx->dev, and other ctx
fields even after calling v4l2_m2m_job_finish().
This vulnerability was confirmed with KASAN by running an instrumented
test module that widens the post-job_finish race window. KASAN detected:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mtk_venc_worker+0x159/0x180
Read of size 4 at addr ffff88800326e000 by task kworker/u8:0/12
Workqueue: mtk_vcodec_enc_wq mtk_venc_worker
Allocated by task 47:
__kasan_kmalloc+0x7f/0x90
fops_vcodec_open+0x85/0x1a0
Freed by task 47:
__kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70
kfree+0xee/0x3a0
fops_vcodec_release+0xb7/0x190
Fix this by calling cancel_work_sync(&ctx->encode_work) before kfree(ctx).
This ensures the workqueue handler is both cancelled (if pending) and
synchronized (waits for any running handler to complete) before the
context is freed.
Placement rationale: The fix is placed after v4l2_ctrl_handler_free()
and before list_del_init(&ctx->list). At this point, all m2m operations
are done (v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() has returned), and we need to ensure
the workqueue is synchronized before removing ctx from the list and
freeing it.
Note: The open error path does NOT need cancel_work_sync() because
INIT_WORK() only initializes the work structure - it does not schedule
it. Work is only scheduled later during device_run() operations.
Fixes: 0934d3759615 ("media: mediatek: vcodec: separate decoder and encoder")
Signed-off-by: Fan Wu <fanwu01 at zju.edu.cn>
---
.../mediatek/vcodec/encoder/mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c | 9 +++++++++
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
diff --git a/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder/mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c b/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder/mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c
index c977ed0c09b6..4e4541b2fc8e 100644
--- a/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder/mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/media/platform/mediatek/vcodec/encoder/mtk_vcodec_enc_drv.c
@@ -215,6 +215,15 @@ static int fops_vcodec_release(struct file *file)
v4l2_fh_exit(&ctx->fh);
v4l2_ctrl_handler_free(&ctx->ctrl_hdl);
+ /*
+ * Cancel any pending encode work before freeing the context.
+ * Although v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() waits for m2m job completion,
+ * the workqueue handler (mtk_venc_worker) may still be accessing
+ * the context after v4l2_m2m_job_finish() returns. Without this,
+ * a use-after-free occurs when the worker accesses ctx after kfree.
+ */
+ cancel_work_sync(&ctx->encode_work);
+
spin_lock_irqsave(&dev->dev_ctx_lock, flags);
list_del_init(&ctx->list);
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev->dev_ctx_lock, flags);
--
2.34.1
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