In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
batman-adv: tp_meter: fix tp_vars reference leak in receiver shutdown
The receiver shutdown timer handler, batadv_tp_receiver_shutdown(), is responsible for releasing the tp_vars reference it holds. However, the existing logic for coordinating this release with batadv_tp_stop_all() was flawed.
timer_shutdown_sync() guarantees the timer will not fire again after it returns, but it returns non-zero only when the timer was pending at the time of the call. If the timer had already expired (and batadv_tp_stop_all() would unsucessfully try to rearm itself), batadv_tp_stop_all() skips its batadv_tp_vars_put(), and batadv_tp_receiver_shutdown() fails to put its own reference as well.
Fix this by introducing a new atomic variable receiving that is set to 1 when the receiver is initialized and cleared atomically with atomic_xchg() by whichever side claims it first. Only the side that observes the transition from 1 to 0 is responsible for releasing the tp_vars timer reference, eliminating the uncertainty.