CVE-2026-98789 (GCVE-0-2026-98789)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-10-18 15:48 – Updated: 2026-10-19 09:25
VLAI
Title
bpf: Fix objects stuck in free_by_rcu_ttrace
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix objects stuck in free_by_rcu_ttrace do_call_rcu_ttrace() returns early when call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress is set and leaves the objects in free_by_rcu_ttrace. __free_rcu() frees waiting_for_gp_ttrace only and clears the flag. Hence the objects that free_bulk() or __free_by_rcu() added while RCU tasks trace GP was in flight stay in free_by_rcu_ttrace until free_bulk() or alloc_bulk() is called for the same bpf_mem_cache again, which may never happen. The number of such objects is not bounded. Turn call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress into three states: 0 - idle 1 - __free_rcu() is queued 2 - __free_rcu() is queued and free_by_rcu_ttrace got more objects since do_call_rcu_ttrace() sets 2. __free_rcu() does cmpxchg(1 -> 0) and starts the next GP when it fails. It cannot clear the flag first and check free_by_rcu_ttrace later, since bpf_mem_alloc_destroy() frees bpf_mem_cache without waiting for RCU callbacks when the flag is zero. Now __free_rcu() queues itself, so the one that didn't see 'draining' may do call_rcu_tasks_trace() after rcu_barrier_tasks_trace() in free_mem_alloc(). Queue it under rcu_read_lock() and do synchronize_rcu() before the barriers. Calling rcu_barrier_tasks_trace() twice works too, but creating and destroying hash maps in a loop on many cpus slows down to one free_mem_alloc() per GP and kworkers pile up.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
Linux CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard D 53/100 over 6641 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 8d5a8011b35d387c490a5c977b1d9eb4798aa071 , < 33d0a5d2fee06a51f2f056dd901296515912e954 (git)
Affected: 8d5a8011b35d387c490a5c977b1d9eb4798aa071 , < fbd97dd1d3ce32d32fb7be86acc3fdb7c04fa043 (git)
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Linux Linux Affected: 6.1
Unaffected: 0 , < 6.1 (semver)
Unaffected: 7.2.10 , ≤ 7.2.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.3 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "kernel/bpf/memalloc.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
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          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: Fix objects stuck in free_by_rcu_ttrace\n\ndo_call_rcu_ttrace() returns early when call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress is set\nand leaves the objects in free_by_rcu_ttrace. __free_rcu() frees\nwaiting_for_gp_ttrace only and clears the flag. Hence the objects that\nfree_bulk() or __free_by_rcu() added while RCU tasks trace GP was in flight\nstay in free_by_rcu_ttrace until free_bulk() or alloc_bulk() is called for\nthe same bpf_mem_cache again, which may never happen. The number of such\nobjects is not bounded.\n\nTurn call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress into three states:\n0 - idle\n1 - __free_rcu() is queued\n2 - __free_rcu() is queued and free_by_rcu_ttrace got more objects since\n\ndo_call_rcu_ttrace() sets 2. __free_rcu() does cmpxchg(1 -\u003e 0) and starts\nthe next GP when it fails. It cannot clear the flag first and check\nfree_by_rcu_ttrace later, since bpf_mem_alloc_destroy() frees bpf_mem_cache\nwithout waiting for RCU callbacks when the flag is zero.\n\nNow __free_rcu() queues itself, so the one that didn\u0027t see \u0027draining\u0027 may\ndo call_rcu_tasks_trace() after rcu_barrier_tasks_trace() in\nfree_mem_alloc(). Queue it under rcu_read_lock() and do synchronize_rcu()\nbefore the barriers. Calling rcu_barrier_tasks_trace() twice works too, but\ncreating and destroying hash maps in a loop on many cpus slows down to one\nfree_mem_alloc() per GP and kworkers pile up."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T09:25:42.177Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
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        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fbd97dd1d3ce32d32fb7be86acc3fdb7c04fa043"
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      "title": "bpf: Fix objects stuck in free_by_rcu_ttrace",
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    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-98789",
    "datePublished": "2026-10-18T15:48:25.665Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.370Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T09:25:42.177Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
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      "percentile": "0.04733"
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      "id": "msrc_CVE-2026-98789",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-20T01:03:28.000Z",
      "product_status:known_affected": "3",
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      "title": "bpf: Fix objects stuck in free_by_rcu_ttrace",
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      "version": "4"
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                ],
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        "descriptions": [
          {
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            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: Fix objects stuck in free_by_rcu_ttrace\n\ndo_call_rcu_ttrace() returns early when call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress is set\nand leaves the objects in free_by_rcu_ttrace. __free_rcu() frees\nwaiting_for_gp_ttrace only and clears the flag. Hence the objects that\nfree_bulk() or __free_by_rcu() added while RCU tasks trace GP was in flight\nstay in free_by_rcu_ttrace until free_bulk() or alloc_bulk() is called for\nthe same bpf_mem_cache again, which may never happen. The number of such\nobjects is not bounded.\n\nTurn call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress into three states:\n0 - idle\n1 - __free_rcu() is queued\n2 - __free_rcu() is queued and free_by_rcu_ttrace got more objects since\n\ndo_call_rcu_ttrace() sets 2. __free_rcu() does cmpxchg(1 -\u003e 0) and starts\nthe next GP when it fails. It cannot clear the flag first and check\nfree_by_rcu_ttrace later, since bpf_mem_alloc_destroy() frees bpf_mem_cache\nwithout waiting for RCU callbacks when the flag is zero.\n\nNow __free_rcu() queues itself, so the one that didn\u0027t see \u0027draining\u0027 may\ndo call_rcu_tasks_trace() after rcu_barrier_tasks_trace() in\nfree_mem_alloc(). Queue it under rcu_read_lock() and do synchronize_rcu()\nbefore the barriers. Calling rcu_barrier_tasks_trace() twice works too, but\ncreating and destroying hash maps in a loop on many cpus slows down to one\nfree_mem_alloc() per GP and kworkers pile up."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-98789",
        "lastModified": "2026-10-19T10:19:42.963",
        "metrics": {},
        "published": "2026-10-18T16:17:32.887",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
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}



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