Memory leak of fence event in Linux kernel virtio GPU execbuffer
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
The virtio GPU execbuffer ioctl in the Linux kernel reserves a DRM event when userspace selects a polling-enabled ring with VIRTGPU_EXECBUF_RING_IDX. Several argument validation failures, such as an invalid bo_handle or an in-syncobj without a fence, then return without cancelling that event, and the cleanup path frees the out-fence without it. The event allocation is never freed, and closing the DRM file does not release it. The flaw was found by fuzzing the virtio driver with Syzkaller.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/virtio: fix memory leak of fence event on execbuffer failure virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl() reserves a DRM event with drm_event_reserve_init() when VIRTGPU_EXECBUF_RING_IDX selects a ring that userspace has enabled polling for. virtio_gpu_init_submit() does this before the BO handles, the command buffer, the syncobj arrays and the in-fence are processed, so every later error path runs with the event already pending, including plain argument validation failures such as an invalid bo_handle or an in-syncobj that carries no fence. On those paths, virtio_gpu_cleanup_submit() drops the out-fence without cancelling the event. The fence is freed without ever having been emitted, taking the only driver-side pointer to the event with it. Closing the DRM file does not help. drm_events_release() unlinks pending events but deliberately leaves the freeing to the driver's later drm_send_event(), which never runs for an orphaned event, so the allocation is leaked permanently. Found when fuzzing the virtio driver with Syzkaller: BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88802c176e80 (size 96): comm "syz.1.367", pid 10561, jiffies 4294960122 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ c8 6e 17 2c 80 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .n.,............ backtrace (crc e1973c6b): kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline] slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4597 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4917 [inline] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x49d/0x6f0 mm/slub.c:5485 _kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:988 [inline] _kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1309 [inline] virtio_gpu_fence_event_create drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:282 [inline] virtio_gpu_init_submit drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:398 [inline] virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl+0xbbf/0x1aa0 drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:505 drm_ioctl_kernel+0x1f4/0x3e0 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:817 drm_ioctl+0x5f4/0xc70 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:914 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x116/0x800 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Fix by cancelling and freeing the DRM event on the execbuffer error path before dropping the fence. Clear the fence's event pointer after cancellation so it does not retain a dangling pointer.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to a fixed version: 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3. Red Hat's plan for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 is none available.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9, 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: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98509
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-f38g-7gw9-c4x5
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-20 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-20 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/43bfe2b60c149bf6effda25f245a00509061fa15
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e333e2336138f4659b1d7a0371c499f80428612
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8fa78900fd24247277c03dc7b8a2864cb12d4340
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae583668f16d41fcc1b54f45848c1b6ac1d6669a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b74aad23d99b279bb34d135795f39a6d8ecdc075
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98509 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98509 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-f38g-7gw9-c4x5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98509 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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