CVE-2026-64451: tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in func_set_flag()

From: Greg Kroah-Hartman <[email protected]>

Description
===========

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tracing: Fix NULL pointer dereference in func_set_flag()

func_set_flag() dereferences tr->current_trace_flags before verifying
that the current tracer is actually the function tracer. When the active
tracer has been switched away from "function" (e.g., to "wakeup_rt"),
tr->current_trace_flags can be NULL, leading to a NULL pointer
dereference and kernel crash.

The call chain that triggers this is:

  trace_options_write()
    -> __set_tracer_option()
      -> trace->set_flag()          /* func_set_flag */

In func_set_flag(), the first operation is:

  if (!!set == !!(tr->current_trace_flags->val & bit))

This dereferences tr->current_trace_flags unconditionally. The safety
check that guards against a non-function tracer:

  if (tr->current_trace != &function_trace)
      return 0;

is placed *after* the dereference, which is too late.

This was observed with the following crash dump:

  BUG: unable to handle page fault at 0000000000000000
  RIP: func_set_flag+0xd

  Call Trace:
   __set_tracer_option+0x27
   trace_options_write+0x75
   vfs_write+0x12a
   ksys_write+0x66
   do_syscall_64+0x5b

  RIP: ffffffff914c973d  RSP: ff67ec88b01dfdf0  RFLAGS: 00010202
  RAX: 0000000000000000  RBX: ff3a826e80354580  RCX: 0000000000000001
  RDX: 0000000000000001  RSI: 0000000000000000  RDI: ffffffff93918080

The disassembly confirms the fault:

  func_set_flag+0:   mov 0x1f08(%rdi), %rax  ; RAX = tr->current_trace_flags = NULL
  func_set_flag+13:  mov (%rax), %eax        ; page fault: dereference NULL

At the time of the crash:
  tr->current_trace_flags = 0x0 (NULL)
  tr->current_trace = wakeup_rt_tracer (not function_trace)

The scenario is that a process opens a function tracer option file (such
as "func_stack_trace"), then the current tracer is switched to another
tracer (e.g., "wakeup_rt"), which sets current_trace_flags to NULL. When
the process subsequently writes to the option file, func_set_flag() is
invoked and crashes on the NULL dereference.

Fix this by moving the current_trace check before the
current_trace_flags dereference, so that func_set_flag() returns early
when the function tracer is not active.

The Linux kernel CVE team has assigned CVE-2026-64451 to this issue.


Affected and fixed versions
===========================

	Issue introduced in 6.19 with commit 76680d0d2825900f23bf35290ab2b80bdf3a8e4a and fixed in 7.1.4 with commit 69f17ac132a38974cf1defb480cef6b79d1ab768
	Issue introduced in 6.19 with commit 76680d0d2825900f23bf35290ab2b80bdf3a8e4a and fixed in 7.2-rc3 with commit c3e94604675e3db186111b8942650d86577df9b0

Please see https://www.kernel.org for a full list of currently supported
kernel versions by the kernel community.

Unaffected versions might change over time as fixes are backported to
older supported kernel versions.  The official CVE entry at
	https://cve.org/CVERecord/?id=CVE-2026-64451
will be updated if fixes are backported, please check that for the most
up to date information about this issue.


Affected files
==============

The file(s) affected by this issue are:
	kernel/trace/trace_functions.c


Mitigation
==========

The Linux kernel CVE team recommends that you update to the latest
stable kernel version for this, and many other bugfixes.  Individual
changes are never tested alone, but rather are part of a larger kernel
release.  Cherry-picking individual commits is not recommended or
supported by the Linux kernel community at all.  If however, updating to
the latest release is impossible, the individual changes to resolve this
issue can be found at these commits:
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/69f17ac132a38974cf1defb480cef6b79d1ab768
	https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3e94604675e3db186111b8942650d86577df9b0