tracing: Free histogram the field rejected for a bad modifier
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: 1 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: tracing: Free histogram the field rejected for a bad modifier Writing a hist trigger whose value or variable carries a modifier that is not allowed there leaks the fields that were built for it. __create_val_field() takes the field from parse_expr() and stores it in hist_data->fields[] only after the modifier checks have run: hist_field = parse_expr(hist_data, file, field_str, flags, var_name, &n_subexprs); ... if (hist_field->flags & HIST_FIELD_FL_VAR) { if (hist_field->flags & (...)) goto err; } else { if (hist_field->flags & (...)) goto err; } hist_data->fields[val_idx] = hist_field; Both checks jump past that store, and the err label returns without freeing anything. The error unwinds to create_hist_data(), which calls destroy_hist_data() -> destroy_hist_fields(), and that reaches a field only by walking fields[]. A field that never got there is unreachable. commit e0213434fe3e ("tracing: Do not let histogram values have some modifiers") set ret to -EINVAL and fell through to the store, which left the field owned by fields[] and freed along with the rest of hist_data. Splitting the check into a value case and a variable case replaced that fall-through with a goto that skips it. With CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK, 200 writes of # echo 'hist:keys=prev_pid:vals=next_pid.log2' > \ events/sched/sched_switch/trigger each correctly rejected with -EINVAL, leave 332 unreferenced objects (63744 bytes) reported at create_hist_field(); 200 install and remove cycles of a valid trigger leave none. A '.log2' field is two allocations, since create_hist_field() puts the plain field in operands[0] of the log2 field, and both are reported. Use destroy_hist_field() rather than __destroy_hist_field() so that operands[0] is freed as well. It returns early for HIST_FIELD_FL_VAR_REF, which is what an operand owned by hist_data->var_refs[] needs; the rejected field itself is never a var ref, because a var ref never carries a modifier flag.
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 6.1.189, 6.4
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.7, 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 |
Not affected: 6 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
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-97921
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-v583-2w7f-r9gc
- 2026-10-03 Fix available: Linux/Linux@3d42fed18b2c5707b6332ebe87b789fd768eb01b, Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected] +1 · CNA
- 2026-10-03 2 new references · CNA
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a2652fcf96b63e9da04951e4e58e6a0672df695d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d42fed18b2c5707b6332ebe87b789fd768eb01b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e787361bb6b0026ea3eb4d3fa7a304c7fcb99555
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b22dc0add7d72b8bd9cae3188db0dd65da1c8652
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/891c21f6d5673b2a519b536243bfc6dd2d35beb6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/230234d12ce42ab04132a32c3a848f07a5d27a71
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Sources
- CVE-2026-97921 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-97921 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-v583-2w7f-r9gc · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-97921 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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