In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: ipset: fix refcount race between list:set GC and swap __ip_set_put_byindex() resolved the index to a set pointer under RCU, then took ip_set_ref_lock in __ip_set_put() to decrement set->ref. ip_set_swap() holds that same lock while swapping both the ip_set_list slots and the two sets' ref counters, so it can interleave between the dereference and the lock acquisition, leaving the caller to decrement a set whose reference already moved to the other index and hit BUG_ON(set->ref == 0). list_set_gc() reaches this from timer softirq, which the nfnl mutex does not serialize against swap: an expiring list:set member calls list_set_del() -> ip_set_put_byindex() while IPSET_CMD_SWAP runs on the referenced sets. Resolve the index and decrement under ip_set_ref_lock, as ip_set_swap() already does, keeping the refcount tied to the index rather than to a stale set pointer. kernel BUG at net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c:685! Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI RIP: 0010:ip_set_put_byindex (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_core.c:870) Call Trace: <IRQ> list_set_del (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_list_set.c:159) set_cleanup_entries (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_list_set.c:181) list_set_gc (net/netfilter/ipset/ip_set_list_set.c:578) call_timer_fn (kernel/time/timer.c:1748) __run_timers (kernel/time/timer.c:1799 kernel/time/timer.c:2374) run_timer_softirq (kernel/time/timer.c:2405) </IRQ> Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt
netfilter: ipset: fix refcount race between list:set GC and swap