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TI-2025-26425 Aliases CVE-2025-39749GHSA-5h3j-3mgh-9rr3

rcu: Protect ->defer_qs_iw_pending from data race

Priority LOW 30Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: Protect ->defer_qs_iw_pending from data race On kernels built with CONFIG_IRQ_WORK=y, when rcu_read_unlock() is invoked within an interrupts-disabled region of code [1], it will invoke rcu_read_unlock_special(), which uses an irq-work handler to force the system to notice when the RCU read-side critical section actually ends. That end won't happen until interrupts are enabled at the soonest. In some kernels, such as those booted with rcutree.use_softirq=y, the irq-work handler is used unconditionally. The per-CPU rcu_data structure's ->defer_qs_iw_pending field is updated by the irq-work handler and is both read and updated by rcu_read_unlock_special(). This resulted in the following KCSAN splat: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BUG: KCSAN: data-race in rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler / rcu_read_unlock_special read to 0xffff96b95f42d8d8 of 1 bytes by task 90 on cpu 8: rcu_read_unlock_special+0x175/0x260 __rcu_read_unlock+0x92/0xa0 rt_spin_unlock+0x9b/0xc0 __local_bh_enable+0x10d/0x170 __local_bh_enable_ip+0xfb/0x150 rcu_do_batch+0x595/0xc40 rcu_cpu_kthread+0x4e9/0x830 smpboot_thread_fn+0x24d/0x3b0 kthread+0x3bd/0x410 ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 write to 0xffff96b95f42d8d8 of 1 bytes by task 88 on cpu 8: rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler+0x1e/0x30 irq_work_single+0xaf/0x160 run_irq_workd+0x91/0xc0 smpboot_thread_fn+0x24d/0x3b0 kthread+0x3bd/0x410 ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 no locks held by irq_work/8/88. irq event stamp: 200272 hardirqs last enabled at (200272): [<ffffffffb0f56121>] finish_task_switch+0x131/0x320 hardirqs last disabled at (200271): [<ffffffffb25c7859>] __schedule+0x129/0xd70 softirqs last enabled at (0): [<ffffffffb0ee093f>] copy_process+0x4df/0x1cc0 softirqs last disabled at (0): [<0000000000000000>] 0x0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The problem is that irq-work handlers run with interrupts enabled, which means that rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler() could be interrupted, and that interrupt handler might contain an RCU read-side critical section, which might invoke rcu_read_unlock_special(). In the strict KCSAN mode of operation used by RCU, this constitutes a data race on the ->defer_qs_iw_pending field. This commit therefore disables interrupts across the portion of the rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler() that updates the ->defer_qs_iw_pending field. This suffices because this handler is not a fast path.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00174 6th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Linux (Linux): 5.4.297, 5.10.241, 5.15.190 +6

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux5.3 and later5.4.297, 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.3 and later Fixed in 5.4.297, 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 2

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*5.3 to before 5.4.297; 5.5 to before 5.10.241; 5.11 to before 5.15.190; 5.16 to before 6.1.149; 6.2 to before 6.6.103; 6.7 to before 6.12.43; 6.13 to before 6.15.11; 6.16 to before 6.16.2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*11.0VulnerableDebian
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.3 to before 5.4.297; 5.5 to before 5.10.241; 5.11 to before 5.15.190; 5.16 to before 6.1.149; 6.2 to before 6.6.103; 6.7 to before 6.12.43; 6.13 to before 6.15.11; 6.16 to before 6.16.2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 11.0 Vulnerable ·Debian

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.297, 5.10.241, 5.15.190, 6.1.149, 6.6.103, 6.12.43, 6.15.11, 6.16.2, 6.17

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 5 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-39749
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-5h3j-3mgh-9rr3

References

  • 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
See all 15278 →

Sources