In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: security/keys: fix missed RCU read section on lookup Nicholas Carlini reports that the keyring code calls assoc_array_find() in find_key_to_update() without holding the RCU read lock, while the assoc_array_gc() code really is designed around removing the node from the tree and then freeing it after an RCU grace-period. The regular key handling doesn't see this because holding the keyring semaphore hides any lifetime issues, but the persistent key handling uses a different model. Instead of extending the keyring locking, just do the simple RCU locking that the assoc_array was designed for.