debugobjects: Plug race against a concurrent OOM disable
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: debugobjects: Plug race against a concurrent OOM disable syzbot reported a puzzling splat: WARNING: kernel/time/hrtimer.c:443 at stub_timer+0xa/0x20 stub_timer() is installed as timer callback function in hrtimer_fixup_assert_init(), which is invoked when debug_object_assert_init() can't find a shadow object. In that case debug objects emits a warning about it before invoking the fixup. Though the provided console log lacks this warning and instead has the following a few seconds before the splat: ODEBUG: Out of memory. ODEBUG disabled So the object was looked up in debug_object_assert_init() and the lookup failed due a concurrent out of memory situation which disabled debug objects and freed the shadow objects: debug_object_assert_init() if (!debug_objects_enabled) return; obj = alloc(); if (!obj) { // Out of memory debug_objects_enabled = false; free_objects(); obj = lookup_or_alloc(); // The lookup failed because the other side // removed the objects, so this returns // an error code as the object in question // is not statically initialized if (!IS_ERR_OR_NULL(obj)) return; if (!obj) { debug_oom(); return; } print(...) if (!debug_objects_enabled) return; fixup(...) The debug object splat is skipped because debug_objects_enabled is false, but the fixup callback is invoked unconditionally, which makes the timer disfunctional. This is only a problem in debug_object_assert_init() and debug_object_activate() as both have to handle statically initialized objects and therefore must handle the error pointer return case gracefully. All other places only handle the found/not found case and the NULL pointer return is a signal for OOM. Otherwise they get a valid shadow object. Plug the hole by checking whether debug objects are still enabled before invoking the print and fixup function in those two places.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.96, 6.18.39, 7.1.4, 7.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-68090
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-qrrw-365j-cfxh
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d5e320b7ab9b25229ac4331541964a58b5e1d29
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/203a965bf2ab43130778d8214fb0c3c8c2d19cdf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23da32e88627e63e0864f59f4c63a2dc0ab851a3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d663fbf28b2eebe665bb9cf828d7d528e5a8707e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e2e255d07723c330dded8e576ce28a8d23a692ce
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c00164c9e7fa6145886ad666806cb5347895de5c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f4f02b336c3be125c8fcf87df73db2e0e028b8b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b81dde13cc163450dcb402dcc915ef13ba241e01
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Sources
- CVE-2026-68090 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-68090 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-qrrw-365j-cfxh · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-68090 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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