CVE-2026-89759

mm/kmemleak: avoid soft lockup when scanning task stacks

N/A
Published: September 11, 2026 at 07:47 PM UTC
Updated: October 30, 2026 at 01:20 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

Using Linux by Linux?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect Linux - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
N/A
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/kmemleak: avoid soft lockup when scanning task stacks Patch series "mm/kmemleak: avoid soft lockup when scanning task", v3. kmemleak_scan() scans every task stack under one rcu_read_lock() with no reschedule point, which can trip the soft lockup watchdog on hosts with very many threads. That prints the following message, depending on the workload+host configuration: watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#35 stuck for 22s! [kmemleak:537] scan_block kmemleak_scan kmemleak_scan_thread kthread Patch 1 walks the tasks with find_ge_pid() so the scan reschedules between tasks Patches 2-3 let the scan loops stop early once a scan is interrupted. This patch (of 3): kmemleak_scan() walks every thread and scans its kernel stack under a single rcu_read_lock() with no reschedule point. On a host with very many threads -- amplified by KASAN/lockdep in debug builds -- this loop can hog a CPU long enough to trip the soft lockup watchdog: watchdog: BUG: soft lockup - CPU#35 stuck for 22s! [kmemleak:537] scan_block kmemleak_scan kmemleak_scan_thread kthread A cond_resched() cannot be added directly: the loop runs inside an RCU read-side critical section. Walk the tasks one PID at a time with find_ge_pid(), taking the RCU read lock only to look up and pin each task. The stack is then scanned with no lock held, so cond_resched() runs between tasks and the scan stops early on scan_should_stop(). This follows the next_tgid()/task_seq_get_next() iteration pattern and keeps each RCU critical section short.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

5.10c4b28963fd79457315783b3b0f21c01eb88cfdc1
Vendor states this is fixed in 1838c704bcb4fd3556cf67513c6f97a39099e35c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3fc8044251de21555fb02c365fa681bab8b0db55 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5d10d4e19e6daa487f0cd0ea6cba472325de92f9 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 9a1b12c06c192290b8479de48f66f1e75d89c4b7 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.109 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.50 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.160 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2.4 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.3 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.3-rc1 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card