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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-45957

| EUVDEUVD-2026-32241 HIGH
Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125)
2026-05-27 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 GHSA-hmgm-22hx-5rp9
Denial Of Service Linux Information Disclosure Buffer Overflow Red Hat Suse
7.1
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
7.1 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI
4.1 MEDIUM

Local trigger requiring CAP_SYS_ADMIN to enable ftrace (PR:H) and a specific RCU workload (AC:H); impact is kernel-hang DoS only, no confidentiality or integrity loss.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Red Hat
MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Jun 16, 2026 - 04:44 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Jun 16, 2026 - 02:37 NVD
7.1 (HIGH)
Patch available
May 27, 2026 - 19:46 EUVD
CVE Published
May 27, 2026 - 14:17 nvd
HIGH 7.1
CVE Published
May 27, 2026 - 14:17 nvd
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionNVD

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to softirq

Commit 5f5fa7ea89dc ("rcu: Don't use negative nesting depth in __rcu_read_unlock()") removes the recursion-protection code from __rcu_read_unlock(). Therefore, we could invoke the deadloop in raise_softirq_irqoff() with ftrace enabled as follows:

WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 0 at kernel/trace/trace.c:3021 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x172/0x180 Modules linked in: my_irq_work(O) CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G O 6.18.0-rc7-dirty #23 PREEMPT(full) Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:__ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x172/0x180 RSP: 0018:ffffc900000034a8 EFLAGS: 00010002 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000004 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: ffffffff826d7b87 RDI: ffffffff826e9329 RBP: 0000000000090009 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: ffffffff82afbc4c R10: 0000000000000008 R11: 0000000000011d7a R12: 0000000000000000 R13: ffff888003874100 R14: 0000000000000003 R15: ffff8880038c1054 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880fa8ea000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 000055b31fa7f540 CR3: 00000000078f4005 CR4: 0000000000770ef0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <IRQ> trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160 unwind_next_frame+0x203/0x9b0 __unwind_start+0x15d/0x1c0 arch_stack_walk+0x62/0xf0 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160 unwind_next_frame+0x203/0x9b0 __unwind_start+0x15d/0x1c0 arch_stack_walk+0x62/0xf0 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160 unwind_next_frame+0x203/0x9b0 __unwind_start+0x15d/0x1c0 arch_stack_walk+0x62/0xf0 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160 __is_insn_slot_addr+0x54/0x70 kernel_text_address+0x48/0xc0 __kernel_text_address+0xd/0x40 unwind_get_return_address+0x1e/0x40 arch_stack_walk+0x9c/0xf0 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80 __raise_softirq_irqoff+0x61/0x80 __flush_smp_call_function_queue+0x115/0x420 __sysvec_call_function_single+0x17/0xb0 sysvec_call_function_single+0x8c/0xc0 </IRQ>

Commit b41642c87716 ("rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to IRQ work") fixed the infinite loop in rcu_read_unlock_special() for IRQ work by setting a flag before calling irq_work_queue_on(). We fix this issue by setting the same flag before calling raise_softirq_irqoff() and rename the flag to defer_qs_pending for more common.

AnalysisAI

Denial of service in the Linux kernel's RCU (Read-Copy-Update) subsystem allows a local condition to trigger an infinite recursion deadloop in rcu_read_unlock_special() when ftrace is enabled, leading to kernel hang or crash. The flaw stems from a missing recursion-protection flag when raise_softirq_irqoff() is invoked from the RCU unlock path, causing repeated re-entry through the softirq/trace stack. No public exploit identified at time of analysis and EPSS rates exploitation probability at 0.02%.

Technical ContextAI

RCU (Read-Copy-Update) is a Linux kernel synchronization mechanism for lock-free read-side critical sections. Commit 5f5fa7ea89dc removed recursion-protection from __rcu_read_unlock(), and a prior fix (b41642c87716) addressed a related deadloop for the IRQ-work path but did not cover the softirq path. When ftrace is enabled and a softirq is raised from rcu_read_unlock_special(), the tracer's stack-walk re-enters rcu_read_unlock_special(), which raises the softirq again, producing unbounded recursion. The patch generalizes the existing protection flag (renamed defer_qs_pending) and sets it before calling raise_softirq_irqoff(). CWE-125 (out-of-bounds read) is the assigned class, though the observable behavior here is a recursion/stack-exhaustion deadloop rather than a classic OOB read.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Linux 6.6.128, 6.12.75, 6.18.14, or 6.19.4 (or newer) depending on your stable series; apply distribution backports as they become available from Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu, and Debian security teams. The upstream commits are published at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f16679a5aa60238466ce339c35f5e82ece60337 and the four sibling stable-tree backports (4a4a6e12, 979c708e, c2932e16, d41e37f2). As a compensating control on unpatched systems, restrict access to kernel tracing facilities (tracefs at /sys/kernel/tracing and debugfs) to root only and avoid enabling stack-trace events on the softirq tracepoint - note that this disables observability for performance/debugging workflows that legitimately rely on ftrace. Removing CAP_SYS_ADMIN from non-trusted users and disabling unsigned out-of-tree modules also reduces the practical trigger surface.

Same weakness CWE-125 – Out-of-bounds Read

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Moderate
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Affected

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CVE-2026-45957 vulnerability details – vuln.today
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