WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (4)

Status: upstream: reported on 2026/02/21 22:24
Subsystems: mm kvm virt
Labels: prio:high
[Documentation on labels]
Reported-by: syzbot+07dcf509f4c013e25dc5@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
First crash: 536d, last: 13h41m
✨ AI Jobs (3)
ID Workflow Result Correct Bug Created Started Finished Revision
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 (5)
Title Replies (including bot) Last reply
[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 219d 219d 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 89d 89d 0/2 upstream: reported on 2026/05/09 05:24
upstream WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn net 13 1 1705d 1705d 0/29 closed as invalid on 2022/01/07 18:56
upstream WARNING: refcount bug in call_timer_fn (3) fs 13 1 636d 632d 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 730d 726d 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 887d 887d 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 OK 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#0: syz.4.10358/31878
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 31878 Comm: syz.4.10358 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: d4 8e 8f 0b 67 48 0f b9 3a eb 4a e8 68 ab f3 fc 48 8d 3d d1 8e 8f 0b 67 48 0f b9 3a eb 37 e8 55 ab f3 fc 48 8d 3d ce 8e 8f 0b <67> 48 0f b9 3a eb 24 e8 42 ab f3 fc 48 8d 3d cb 8e 8f 0b 67 48 0f
RSP: 0018:ffffc90000007c68 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: ffffffff84d3671b RBX: 0000000000000003 RCX: ffff888036660000
RDX: 0000000000000100 RSI: ffffffff8f365300 RDI: ffffffff9062f5f0
RBP: ffffc90000007d70 R08: ffff888036660000 R09: 0000000000000005
R10: 0000000000000004 R11: 0000000000000100 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00000001000145e0 R14: ffff8880539a7020 R15: ffff8880539a7258
FS:  00007f210adb46c0(0000) GS:ffff888124f4b000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00007f6e2cd5da08 CR3: 0000000025b32000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: fffffffffffffffc DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
 <IRQ>
 call_timer_fn+0x192/0x5e0 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+0x225/0x840 kernel/softirq.c:622
 __do_softirq kernel/softirq.c:656 [inline]
 invoke_softirq kernel/softirq.c:496 [inline]
 __irq_exit_rcu+0xca/0x220 kernel/softirq.c:735
 irq_exit_rcu+0x9/0x30 kernel/softirq.c:752
 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:188 [inline]
RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x29/0x50 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:206
Code: 90 f3 0f 1e fa 53 48 89 fb 48 83 c7 18 48 8b 74 24 08 e8 aa 07 cf f5 48 89 df e8 02 7d cf f5 e8 bd 5d fb f5 fb bf 01 00 00 00 <e8> b2 90 c0 f5 65 8b 05 ab 60 99 07 85 c0 74 07 5b e9 11 48 00 00
RSP: 0018:ffffc90004a856f0 EFLAGS: 00000206
RAX: 000000000005cb39 RBX: ffff88801dadd318 RCX: 0000000080000001
RDX: 0000000000000006 RSI: ffffffff8e22f174 RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: ffffc90004a85a50 R08: ffffffff90579d37 R09: 1ffffffff20af3a6
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff20af3a7 R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: 0000000000000012 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000000
 spin_unlock_irq include/linux/spinlock.h:402 [inline]
 lruvec_unlock_irq include/linux/memcontrol.h:1529 [inline]
 evict_folios+0x3634/0x49e0 mm/vmscan.c:4829
 try_to_shrink_lruvec+0xb4f/0xed0 mm/vmscan.c:4983
 lru_gen_shrink_lruvec mm/vmscan.c:5128 [inline]
 shrink_lruvec+0x554/0x2a60 mm/vmscan.c:5888
 shrink_node_memcgs mm/vmscan.c:6127 [inline]
 shrink_node+0xa9b/0x3b60 mm/vmscan.c:6171
 shrink_zones mm/vmscan.c:6410 [inline]
 do_try_to_free_pages+0x6a3/0x1990 mm/vmscan.c:6472
 try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages+0x30d/0x830 mm/vmscan.c:6794
 try_charge_memcg+0x86a/0x1590 mm/memcontrol.c:2655
 charge_memcg+0x19c/0x2b0 mm/memcontrol.c:5126
 __mem_cgroup_charge+0x25/0x80 mm/memcontrol.c:5143
 mem_cgroup_charge include/linux/memcontrol.h:657 [inline]
 shmem_alloc_and_add_folio+0x7bb/0xf60 mm/shmem.c:1969
 shmem_get_folio_gfp+0x5da/0x16d0 mm/shmem.c:2512
 shmem_get_folio mm/shmem.c:2618 [inline]
 shmem_write_begin+0x16c/0x330 mm/shmem.c:3249
 generic_perform_write+0x2d5/0x8f0 mm/filemap.c:4358
 shmem_file_write_iter+0xf8/0x120 mm/shmem.c:3424
 __kernel_write_iter+0x44a/0x8f0 fs/read_write.c:621
 dump_emit_page fs/coredump.c:1298 [inline]
 dump_user_range+0xc19/0x12c0 fs/coredump.c:1372
 elf_core_dump+0x3485/0x3a90 fs/binfmt_elf.c:2109
 coredump_write+0x1290/0x1960 fs/coredump.c:1052
 do_coredump fs/coredump.c:1131 [inline]
 vfs_coredump+0x36ff/0x44b0 fs/coredump.c:1200
 get_signal+0x1094/0x12c0 kernel/signal.c:3031
 arch_do_signal_or_restart+0xbb/0x860 arch/x86/kernel/signal.c:337
 __exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:66 [inline]
 exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:101 [inline]
 __exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:207 [inline]
 irqentry_exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:244 [inline]
 irqentry_exit_to_user_mode include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:315 [inline]
 irqentry_exit+0x2ba/0x8f0 kernel/entry/common.c:165
 asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:595
RIP: 0033:0x0
Code: Unable to access opcode bytes at 0xffffffffffffffd6.
RSP: 002b:0000200000000188 EFLAGS: 00010217
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 00007f210a225fa0 RCX: 00007f2109f9e019
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000200000000180 RDI: 0000000000000200
RBP: 00007f210a03500c R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000206 R12: 0000000000000000
R13: 00007f210a226038 R14: 00007f210a225fa0 R15: 00007f210a34fa48
 </TASK>
----------------
Code disassembly (best guess), 1 bytes skipped:
   0:	8e 8f 0b 67 48 0f    	mov    0xf48670b(%rdi),%cs
   6:	b9 3a eb 4a e8       	mov    $0xe84aeb3a,%ecx
   b:	68 ab f3 fc 48       	push   $0x48fcf3ab
  10:	8d 3d d1 8e 8f 0b    	lea    0xb8f8ed1(%rip),%edi        # 0xb8f8ee7
  16:	67 48 0f b9 3a       	ud1    (%edx),%rdi
  1b:	eb 37                	jmp    0x54
  1d:	e8 55 ab f3 fc       	call   0xfcf3ab77
  22:	48 8d 3d ce 8e 8f 0b 	lea    0xb8f8ece(%rip),%rdi        # 0xb8f8ef7
* 29:	67 48 0f b9 3a       	ud1    (%edx),%rdi <-- trapping instruction
  2e:	eb 24                	jmp    0x54
  30:	e8 42 ab f3 fc       	call   0xfcf3ab77
  35:	48 8d 3d cb 8e 8f 0b 	lea    0xb8f8ecb(%rip),%rdi        # 0xb8f8f07
  3c:	67                   	addr32
  3d:	48                   	rex.W
  3e:	0f                   	.byte 0xf

Crashes (34):
Time Kernel Commit Syzkaller Config Log Report Syz repro C repro VM info Assets (help?) Manager Title
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
2026/08/05 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.