WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4)

Status: upstream: reported on 2026/02/21 22:24
Subsystems: mm
Labels: prio:high
[Documentation on labels]
Reported-by: syzbot+07dcf509f4c013e25dc5@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 566d, last: 14h10m
✨ AI Jobs (4)
ID Workflow Result Correct Bug Created Started Finished Revision
47bc03d3 repro-c 💥 WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4) 2026/08/26 14:06 2026/08/26 15:23 2026/08/27 01:31 a2b77b9e
2d6622d6 repro-c Reproduced: ✅ WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4) 2026/07/23 05:10 2026/07/23 05:10 2026/07/23 09:48 881ce5c2
cffd693a assessment-security DenialOfService: ✅ Exploitable: ✅ FilesystemTrigger: ❌ NetworkTrigger: ✅ PeripheralTrigger: ❌ RemoteTrigger: ✅ Unprivileged: ✅ UserNamespace: ✅ VMGuestTrigger: ❌ VMHostTrigger: ❌ WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4) 2026/05/17 00:43 2026/05/17 00:43 2026/05/17 01:41 de5aae85
b5bfcc28 repro WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4) 2026/03/07 23:26 2026/03/07 23:26 2026/03/07 23:35 31e9c887
Discussions (6)
Title Replies (including bot) Last reply
[syzbot] Monthly kvm report (Aug 2026) 0 (1) 2026/08/16 12:32
[syzbot] Monthly virt report (Jul 2026) 0 (1) 2026/07/30 12:32
[syzbot] Monthly virt report (Jun 2026) 4 (5) 2026/07/06 11:54
[syzbot] Monthly virt report (May 2026) 0 (1) 2026/05/24 20:32
[syzbot] Monthly trace report (Feb 2026) 0 (1) 2026/02/23 08:39
[syzbot] [net?] [trace?] WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4) 0 (1) 2026/02/21 22:24
Similar bugs (6)
Kernel Title Rank 🛈 Repro Cause bisect Fix bisect Count Last Reported Patched Status
linux-6.6 WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn 13 1 249d 249d 0/2 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2026/04/08 16:57
linux-6.6 WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (2) 13 1 119d 119d 0/2 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2026/08/17 05:24
upstream WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn net 13 1 1735d 1735d 0/29 closed as invalid on 2022/01/07 18:56
upstream WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (3) fs 13 1 666d 662d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2025/02/05 18:30
upstream WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (2) acpi 13 1 760d 756d 0/29 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2024/11/03 21:47
linux-6.1 WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn 13 1 917d 917d 0/3 auto-obsoleted due to no activity on 2024/06/09 18:08
Last patch testing requests (1)
Created Duration User Patch Repo Result
2026/08/05 13:27 28m glider@google.com upstream no crash log

Sample crash report:
------------[ cut here ]------------
refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free.
WARNING: lib/refcount.c:28 at refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x110 lib/refcount.c:28, CPU#1: syz.5.1200/10011
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 10011 Comm: syz.5.1200 Tainted: G             L      syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) 
Tainted: [L]=SOFTLOCKUP
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
RIP: 0010:refcount_warn_saturate+0xb2/0x110 lib/refcount.c:28
Code: 24 0b a7 0b 67 48 0f b9 3a eb 4a e8 58 96 e9 fc 48 8d 3d 21 0b a7 0b 67 48 0f b9 3a eb 37 e8 45 96 e9 fc 48 8d 3d 1e 0b a7 0b <67> 48 0f b9 3a eb 24 e8 32 96 e9 fc 48 8d 3d 1b 0b a7 0b 67 48 0f
RSP: 0018:ffffc90000a18c68 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: ffffffff84de24db RBX: 0000000000000003 RCX: ffff888028633e80
RDX: 0000000000000100 RSI: 0000000000000100 RDI: ffffffff90853000
RBP: ffffc90000a18d70 R08: ffff888028633e80 R09: 0000000000000005
R10: 0000000000000004 R11: 0000000000000100 R12: 0000000000000001
R13: 0000000100000c09 R14: ffff88802778c020 R15: ffff88802778c1b8
FS:  00007f6dd8db86c0(0000) GS:ffff888124dd9000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000200000002480 CR3: 0000000058f3c000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
DR0: ffffffffffffffff DR1: 20000000000001f8 DR2: 0000000000000002
DR3: ffffffffefffff15 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 <IRQ>
 call_timer_fn+0x18d/0x5f0 kernel/time/timer.c:1748
 expire_timers kernel/time/timer.c:1799 [inline]
 __run_timers kernel/time/timer.c:2374 [inline]
 __run_timer_base+0x652/0x8b0 kernel/time/timer.c:2386
 run_timer_base kernel/time/timer.c:2395 [inline]
 run_timer_softirq+0xb7/0x170 kernel/time/timer.c:2405
 handle_softirqs+0x226/0x860 kernel/softirq.c:645
 __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:679 [inline]
 invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:519 [inline]
 __irq_exit_rcu+0xcb/0x220 kernel/softirq.c:767
 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:784
 instr_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1062 [inline]
 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xa6/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1062
 </IRQ>
 <TASK>
 asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1a/0x20 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:674
RIP: 0010:__raw_spin_unlock_irq include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:220 [inline]
RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x29/0x50 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:229
Code: 90 f3 0f 1e fa 53 48 89 fb 48 83 c7 18 48 8b 74 24 08 e8 1a 4d bc f5 48 89 df e8 d2 c4 bc f5 e8 cd 01 e9 f5 fb bf 01 00 00 00 <e8> 82 de ad f5 65 48 8b 05 2a 71 ad 07 48 85 c0 74 07 5b c3 cc cc
RSP: 0018:ffffc900050a7350 EFLAGS: 00000202
RAX: 0000000000001cd9 RBX: ffff888031430f78 RCX: 8000000000000001
RDX: 0000000000000007 RSI: ffffffff8e474a01 RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: ffffc900050a74b0 R08: ffffffff907a167f R09: 1ffffffff20f42cf
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff20f42d0 R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: ffffc900050a7400 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000001
 spin_unlock_irq include/linux/spinlock.h:413 [inline]
 shmem_add_to_page_cache+0xa5e/0xd40 mm/shmem.c:939
 shmem_alloc_and_add_folio+0x854/0xf60 mm/shmem.c:2001
 shmem_get_folio_gfp+0x5da/0x16d0 mm/shmem.c:2528
 shmem_fault+0x179/0x390 mm/shmem.c:2729
 __do_fault+0x138/0x2a0 mm/memory.c:5565
 do_read_fault mm/memory.c:6000 [inline]
 do_fault mm/memory.c:6134 [inline]
 do_pte_missing+0x2215/0x34b0 mm/memory.c:4700
 handle_pte_fault mm/memory.c:6558 [inline]
 __handle_mm_fault mm/memory.c:6707 [inline]
 handle_mm_fault+0x1a53/0x3750 mm/memory.c:6876
 faultin_page mm/gup.c:1126 [inline]
 __get_user_pages+0x1675/0x2750 mm/gup.c:1428
 populate_vma_page_range+0x2be/0x3c0 mm/gup.c:1860
 __mm_populate+0x25f/0x390 mm/gup.c:1963
 mm_populate include/linux/mm.h:4288 [inline]
 vm_mmap_pgoff+0x353/0x4e0 mm/util.c:586
 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 [inline]
 do_syscall_64+0x166/0x520 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84
 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7f6dd7f9e159
Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007f6dd8db8028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000009
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f6dd8225fa0 RCX: 00007f6dd7f9e159
RDX: 0000000000000002 RSI: 0000000000b36000 RDI: 0000200000000000
RBP: 00007f6dd8035024 R08: ffffffffffffffff R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000008031 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00007f6dd8226038 R14: 00007f6dd8225fa0 R15: 00007f6dd834fa48
 </TASK>
----------------
Code disassembly (best guess):
   0:	24 0b                	and    $0xb,%al
   2:	a7                   	cmpsl  %es:(%rdi),%ds:(%rsi)
   3:	0b 67 48             	or     0x48(%rdi),%esp
   6:	0f b9 3a             	ud1    (%rdx),%edi
   9:	eb 4a                	jmp    0x55
   b:	e8 58 96 e9 fc       	call   0xfce99668
  10:	48 8d 3d 21 0b a7 0b 	lea    0xba70b21(%rip),%rdi        # 0xba70b38
  17:	67 48 0f b9 3a       	ud1    (%edx),%rdi
  1c:	eb 37                	jmp    0x55
  1e:	e8 45 96 e9 fc       	call   0xfce99668
  23:	48 8d 3d 1e 0b a7 0b 	lea    0xba70b1e(%rip),%rdi        # 0xba70b48
* 2a:	67 48 0f b9 3a       	ud1    (%edx),%rdi <-- trapping instruction
  2f:	eb 24                	jmp    0x55
  31:	e8 32 96 e9 fc       	call   0xfce99668
  36:	48 8d 3d 1b 0b a7 0b 	lea    0xba70b1b(%rip),%rdi        # 0xba70b58
  3d:	67                   	addr32
  3e:	48                   	rex.W
  3f:	0f                   	.byte 0xf

Crashes (39):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
2026/09/04 17:42 upstream bc35965f6940 3f042c7b .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/28 08:34 upstream 18fbf5151d2c e2fa417d .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-smack-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/27 11:29 upstream 73e3f0710014 a2b77b9e .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/25 14:59 upstream 66498c75b4f8 614e416a .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-smack-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/04 11:30 upstream 848acc8ffe1b a68cb31b .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/07/31 01:17 upstream 3708dd948844 aaffb173 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/07/29 12:37 upstream fc02acf6ac0c 19622d9d .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-smack-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/05/27 21:23 upstream eb3f4b7426cf 769cbc61 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/05/24 12:28 upstream 4cbfe4502e3d c69befb3 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/04/28 00:02 upstream 254f49634ee1 ce741359 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-smack-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/11/20 02:39 upstream 8b690556d8fe 26ee5237 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-smack-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/11/03 19:16 upstream 6146a0f1dfae 2c50b6a9 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-smack-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/07/18 08:24 upstream af5e34a41cd6 72524a66 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-386 WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/05/15 06:23 upstream 66182ca873a4 6ccb967e .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-kasan-gce-386 WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/06/21 07:59 bpf a975094bf98c 43bfcdb0 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/03/31 07:00 bpf c369299895a5 d0af506e .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/01/28 05:45 bpf 63804fed149a 3029c699 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/01/24 03:32 bpf c072629f05d7 4f25b9b4 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/10/18 02:50 bpf a1e83d4c0361 1c8c8cd8 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/10/08 04:53 bpf 23f3770e1a53 7e2882b3 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/09/29 02:11 bpf bf40f4b87761 001c9061 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/06 17:52 net-next f37228367375 c38879ea .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-net-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/05 17:33 net-next a23b36233d41 b3eac40e .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-net-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/08/04 21:31 net-next 5b4f243f78a5 d4abbeac .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-net-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/06/26 11:37 bpf-next 4edcdefd4083 7ff32d8b .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-next-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/06/09 02:17 net-next d337bc6b2707 656e94c6 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-net-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/03/12 09:08 bpf-next ca0f39a369c5 2d88ab01 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-next-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/02/19 14:10 bpf-next 4c51f90d45dc 746545b8 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-next-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/08/30 11:45 bpf-next 98857d111c53 807a3b61 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-next-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/04/04 21:04 bpf-next 06a22366d6a1 1c4febdb .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-next-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/02/15 09:42 bpf-next a4585442ade5 40a34ec9 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-bpf-next-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/07/22 10:29 linux-next cc2b5f627e8c b561ce9c .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-rust-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/07/18 08:04 linux-next cc2b5f627e8c 72524a66 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-linux-next-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/07/12 11:09 linux-next bee763d5f341 d78ea535 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-linux-next-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/06/16 03:16 linux-next 8d6dbbbe3ba6 50bb0618 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-linux-next-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/05/23 10:00 linux-next c1ecb239fa34 c69befb3 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-linux-next-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2026/03/30 23:17 linux-next cf7c3c02fdd0 458630d8 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-rust-kasan-gce WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/12/20 09:32 linux-next cc3aa43b44bd d6526ea3 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-linux-next-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
2025/06/19 11:00 linux-next 6e5ab6fee68d ed3e87f7 .config console log report info [disk image] [vmlinux] [kernel image] ci-upstream-linux-next-kasan-gce-root WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn
* Struck through repros no longer work on HEAD.