Use-after-free in Linux amdgpu KFD device mapping on GPU reset
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The amdgpu KFD driver in the Linux kernel from 7.2 caches the address space of the first /dev/kfd opener, which becomes a dangling pointer once that container exits. A later GPU reset then uses the freed inode and hangs, and mappings from other containers keep doorbell and MMIO pages accessible after the reset. The CVSS vector rates it as local with low privileges required and high impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/amdkfd: fix use-after-free and multi-container gap in kfd_dev_mapping kfd_dev_mapping caches the address_space of the first /dev/kfd opener so that the GPU reset path can call unmap_mapping_range() to zap all userspace mappings of doorbell and MMIO ranges. This design has two bugs that both manifest under SRIOV with multiple containers: 1. Use-after-free / rwsem deadlock. The cached pointer refers to an inode owned by the first opener's container. When that container exits and its inode is released, kfd_dev_mapping becomes a dangling pointer. A subsequent GPU reset dereferences it inside unmap_mapping_range(), which takes i_mmap_rwsem on the freed inode, causing a hard hang observable as an uninterruptible rwsem wait. 2. Multi-container gap. Only the first opener's address_space is cached; VMAs created by later openers live in a different address_space and are never reached by unmap_mapping_range(). After a GPU reset those stale mappings keep doorbell and MMIO pages accessible to guest userspace with no GPU behind them, risking PCIe transaction timeouts and NMI panics. Fix both bugs with the same approach used by DRM core (drm_drv.c): create a private pseudo-filesystem at module init time and allocate one anonymous inode from it. In kfd_open() redirect every opener's file->f_mapping to that inode's address_space. The inode is module-owned, lives exactly as long as the amdgpu module, and collects VMAs from all openers in one address_space. A single unmap_mapping_range() call in the reset path then correctly reaches every container's mappings with no dangling pointer risk. The hang manifests as an NMI backtrace on the GPU reset workqueue stuck spinning in rwsem_down_read_slowpath() with a corrupted i_mmap_rwsem: Workqueue: amdgpu-reset-dev xgpu_ai_mailbox_flr_work [amdgpu] Call Trace: <TASK> kvm_wait+0x1f/0x40 __pv_queued_spin_lock_slowpath+0x31d/0x3a0 _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x51/0x80 rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0xb3/0x550 down_read+0x48/0xd0 unmap_mapping_range+0x71/0x140 kfd_dev_unmap_mapping_range+0x5b/0x140 [amdgpu] amdgpu_amdkfd_clear_kfd_mapping+0xd8/0x190 [amdgpu] amdgpu_device_gpu_recover+0x232/0x450 [amdgpu] xgpu_ai_mailbox_flr_work+0xb5/0xc0 [amdgpu] process_one_work+0x18e/0x3e0 worker_thread+0x2e3/0x420 kthread+0x10a/0x230 (cherry picked from commit 1128b4a52de1572e87431de837fd9850cb99542c)
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Upgrade the Linux kernel to 7.2.9 or 7.3, which fix the flaw. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is affected and has no fix planned.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 7.2.9, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
Not affected: 6 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- 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
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98520
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-x886-mwj9-qhhg
- 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
- 2026-10-24 CVSS score added · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98520 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98520 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-x886-mwj9-qhhg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98520 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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