If kernel ruleset is constantly changing, code called by nft_is_table_compatible() may crash: For each item in table's chain list, nft_is_chain_compatible() is called. This in turn calls nft_build_cache() to fetch chain's rules. Though if kernel genid has changed meanwhile, cache is flushed and rebuilt from scratch, thereby freeing table's chain list - the foreach loop in nft_is_table_compatible() then operates on freed memory. A simple reproducer (may need a few calls): | RULESET='*filter | :INPUT ACCEPT [10517:1483527] | :FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0] | :OUTPUT ACCEPT [1714:105671] | COMMIT | ' | | for ((i = 0; i < 100; i++)); do | iptables-nft-restore <<< "$RULESET" & | done & | iptables-nft-save To fix the problem, basically revert commit ab1cd3b510fa5 ("nft: ensure cache consistency") so that __nft_build_cache() no longer flushes the cache. Instead just record kernel's genid when fetching for the first time. If kernel rule set changes until the changes are committed, the commit simply fails and local cache is being rebuilt. Signed-off-by: Phil Sutter <phil@xxxxxx> --- Pablo, This is a similar situation as with commit c550c81fd373e ("nft: cache: Fix nft_release_cache() under stress"): Your caching rewrite avoids this problem as well, but kills some of my performance improvements. I'm currently working on restoring them with your approach but that's not a quick "fix". Can we go with this patch until I'm done? Cheers, Phil --- iptables/nft-cache.c | 16 ++-------------- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-) diff --git a/iptables/nft-cache.c b/iptables/nft-cache.c index e3c9655739187..a0c76705c848e 100644 --- a/iptables/nft-cache.c +++ b/iptables/nft-cache.c @@ -449,15 +449,11 @@ __nft_build_cache(struct nft_handle *h, enum nft_cache_level level, const struct builtin_table *t, const char *set, const char *chain) { - uint32_t genid_start, genid_stop; - if (level <= h->cache_level) return; -retry: - mnl_genid_get(h, &genid_start); - if (h->cache_level && genid_start != h->nft_genid) - flush_chain_cache(h, NULL); + if (!h->nft_genid) + mnl_genid_get(h, &h->nft_genid); switch (h->cache_level) { case NFT_CL_NONE: @@ -486,18 +482,10 @@ retry: break; } - mnl_genid_get(h, &genid_stop); - if (genid_start != genid_stop) { - flush_chain_cache(h, NULL); - goto retry; - } - if (!t && !chain) h->cache_level = level; else if (h->cache_level < NFT_CL_TABLES) h->cache_level = NFT_CL_TABLES; - - h->nft_genid = genid_start; } void nft_build_cache(struct nft_handle *h, struct nftnl_chain *c) -- 2.25.1