io_uring: fix shared sqpoll cancellation hangs
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring: fix shared sqpoll cancellation hangs [ 736.982891] INFO: task iou-sqp-4294:4295 blocked for more than 122 seconds. [ 736.982897] Call Trace: [ 736.982901] schedule+0x68/0xe0 [ 736.982903] io_uring_cancel_sqpoll+0xdb/0x110 [ 736.982908] io_sqpoll_cancel_cb+0x24/0x30 [ 736.982911] io_run_task_work_head+0x28/0x50 [ 736.982913] io_sq_thread+0x4e3/0x720 We call io_uring_cancel_sqpoll() one by one for each ctx either in sq_thread() itself or via task works, and it's intended to cancel all requests of a specified context. However the function uses per-task counters to track the number of inflight requests, so it counts more requests than available via currect io_uring ctx and goes to sleep for them to appear (e.g. from IRQ), that will never happen. Cancel a bit more than before, i.e. all ctxs that share sqpoll and continue to use shared counters. Don't forget that we should not remove ctx from the list before running that task_work sqpoll-cancel, otherwise the function wouldn't be able to find the context and will hang.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.12.3, 5.13
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-46942
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-rhmj-w54j-qcf6
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2021-46942 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-46942 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-rhmj-w54j-qcf6 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-46942 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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