Linux kernel writeback drain loop stalls Tasks-RCU grace periods
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: 6 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel writeback code that drains offline cgroup writeback domains (cleanup_offline_cgwbs_workfn) never reports a Tasks-RCU quiescent state on kernels with preemption disabled in the cond_resched path. A drain of a cgroup with millions of attached inodes can run for minutes, which blocks callers of synchronize_rcu_tasks() such as BPF or ftrace detach. The fix calls cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs() inside a do-while loop to report the quiescent state on every pass.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: writeback: report a Tasks-RCU quiescent state per cgwb drain pass cleanup_offline_cgwbs_workfn() drains a dying cgwb by calling cleanup_offline_cgwb() until it returns false, with a cond_resched() between passes. On a CONFIG_PREEMPTION kernel that cond_resched() does nothing: _cond_resched() is a plain "return 0", and under PREEMPT_DYNAMIC the full and lazy modes disable it. Since commit 7dadeaa6e851 ("sched: Further restrict the preemption modes") those are the only two models on the architectures with PREEMPT_LAZY support, arm64 and x86 among them, so the drain loop never reports a Tasks-RCU quiescent state. A worker draining a cgwb with millions of attached inodes runs for minutes. On a 6.18 arm64 host in lazy mode the cgwb worker drained one dying cgroup's writeback domain for over 11 minutes. A BPF program unlink (bpf_trampoline_unlink_prog -> bpf_trampoline_update -> unregister_ftrace_direct -> ftrace_shutdown -> synchronize_rcu_tasks()) waited on that grace period while holding the trampoline mutex, 42 tasks queued behind it in D state, and the hung task detector fired at 614 s and panicked the host. Any BPF or ftrace detach during a long drain inherits the drain's length. Fix this by calling cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs() so we do not stall out anybody who calls sycnrhonize_rcu_tasks(). We put this in a do { } while loop because if we have many small cgroups cleanup_offline_cgwb() will return false and we will never call cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs(), creating the same problem.
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 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3. Red Hat lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 as affected with no fix planned, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 as affected with no fix plan available.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 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 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | 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: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98536
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-hq8j-r79p-42p5
- 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
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/863049b4018237d1590cd13b16e9fe9c0faad2c6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/42462b5bb0dec57db7f85d0f77655c737d45754d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ebf1555ad2821be06f87a88ffd9a2cab8d2200e1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4eb889649eaf65f4a5727b04ba1c017b7d05bb16
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd3bf32279df98751364b3609eb100a3e42f253b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/260f586a80e7f624dd7f069898a75a904f34d373
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/407a5d205179a4ab186571b0e16ec42725dc77bc
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98536 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98536 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-hq8j-r79p-42p5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98536 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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