mm/damon/core: avoid infinite kdamond_merge_regions() internal loop
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: 4 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: mm/damon/core: avoid infinite kdamond_merge_regions() internal loop Patch series "mm/damon: unurgent fixes for infinite loop, NULL de-ref and races", v1.1. Sashiko found a few issues in DAMON that could cause infinite loop, NULL dereference and monitoring results degradation. The first two sounds scary but the infinite loop happens only under unreasonable user setup. The NULL dereference is only in a unit test. Monitoring results degradation is trivial since it is only best-effort, and those happens from only unlikely races. Still those are bugs that better to fix if possible. Fix those. This patch (of 6): Due to online parameter update like events, the number of DAMON regions could be higher than the user-set upper limit. kdamond_merge_regions() repeats merge regions until the number meets the limit, while doubling the merge threshold up to the theoretical maximum threshold. It is tried only up to the theoretical maximum threshold because even the aggressive merging can fail from reducing the number of regions under the user-defined upper limit. For example, there could be many user-defined non-contiguous regions that cannot be merged. The threshold based loop break condition is evaluated by comparing the threshold for the next merging try against the theoretical maximum threshold. If max_thres is larger than UINT_MAX / 2, doubling the threshold could make it overflow, and bypass the loop break condition. In the case, if the number of regions cannot be reduced under the upper limit like explained above, the loop will run infinitely. Prevent the case by doing the break condition check before doubling the threshold. Also, prevent the threshold exceeding the maximum threshold, as it could overflow and apply the wrong merge threshold. This issue is unlikely to occur in real world, since having the max_thres higher than UINT_MAX / 2 require unrealistically large aggregation intervals compared to the sampling interval. Also, it requires an unrealistically large number of uncontiguous regions setup. Nonetheless, the consequence is bad and the fix is simple. The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 5.15.164 to before 5.15.222; 6.1.101 to before 6.1.189; 6.6.41 to before 6.6.158; 6.9.10 to before 6.10 | 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.10 | Patch available | CNA |
| Linux | Linux | 6.10 and later | 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.5, 7.3 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.15.164 to before 5.15.222; 6.1.101 to before 6.1.189; 6.6.41 to before 6.6.158; 6.9.10 to before 6.10 Fixed in 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.10 Patch available CNA
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.10 and later Fixed in 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.5, 7.3 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.10
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.5, 7.3
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 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 5 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-89796
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-q9wh-9494-vg25
- 2026-10-03 Fix available: Linux/Linux@407da1dd7f48e5ba22ceb8834f6923390632d025, Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@5b0953f86d65855dc901050f40bbe6da0475d198 +3 · CNA
- 2026-10-03 3 new references · CNA
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-29 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/407da1dd7f48e5ba22ceb8834f6923390632d025
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/65edd8b3a88278c9f8e5c7d8c15d4f296ce35078
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b0953f86d65855dc901050f40bbe6da0475d198
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/769c16699c89811386eb003c8fd9dcb8d405b316
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/50a7a5aec1aa43efc297fd4377c1cbdc7d15620d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a96a06e04d210845be5d9581c0e9e338947e8f8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/123e4619ab6c8ab1c4cb1d7a58311a2af13929cd
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Sources
- CVE-2026-89796 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-89796 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-q9wh-9494-vg25 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-89796 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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