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TI-2026-81834 Aliases CVE-2026-99127GHSA-4j2x-r727-jfq6

Unaligned page pool fragments in Linux kernel cause split lock panics

Priority LOW 22Published · Updated

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 Linux kernel page pool, from 5.15 onward, rounds fragment sizes only when the architecture defines a DMA alignment, so on x86 a single odd-sized request in page_pool_alloc_frag_netmem() leaves later fragments from the shared pool misaligned. Generic-mode XDP on loopback can then produce misaligned skb_shinfo() structures, and ordinary traffic can trigger a split lock panic on x86 systems with split lock detection enabled.

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: page_pool: keep frag_offset aligned for odd-sized requests page_pool_alloc_frag_netmem() rounds the requested fragment size with size = ALIGN(size, dma_get_cache_alignment()); dma_get_cache_alignment() returns 1 unless the architecture defines ARCH_DMA_MINALIGN, which DMA-coherent architectures such as x86 do not. There the ALIGN() is a no-op and pool->frag_offset advances by the raw, unrounded size. A single caller asking for an odd size then leaves frag_offset misaligned for every fragment carved out of that page afterwards. The pool is shared, so the damage is not confined to the caller that caused it. The per-cpu system_page_pool used by generic XDP hits this. skb_pp_cow_data() allocates its fragments with the raw packet length: size = min_t(u32, len, PAGE_SIZE); truesize = size; page = page_pool_dev_alloc(pool, &page_off, &truesize); leaving frag_offset odd for whatever is carved out of that page next. Its own head allocation is already aligned -- SKB_HEAD_ALIGN(size) plus the XDP_PACKET_HEADROOM its callers pass -- so it is a later user of the shared pool that pays: page_pool_dev_alloc_va() returns a misaligned buffer, napi_build_skb() installs it as skb->head, and skb_shinfo(skb) == skb->head + skb->end is misaligned with it. skb_shinfo()->dataref is a 4-byte atomic_t at offset 0x20, so the atomic_inc() in __skb_clone() straddles a cache line. On x86 with split lock detection -- fatal for kernel split locks by default -- this panics the machine: Oops: Split lock detected RIP: 0010:skb_clone+0x154/0x1e0 Call Trace: <IRQ> raw_local_deliver+0x1ed/0x2c0 ip_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x54/0x1c0 ip_local_deliver_finish+0x85/0x100 ip_local_deliver+0x67/0x100 __netif_receive_skb_one_core+0x85/0xa0 process_backlog+0x87/0x130 Reproduced by attaching any generic-mode XDP program to loopback and opening a RAW IPPROTO_UDP socket, which makes raw_local_deliver() clone every locally delivered UDP packet; ordinary DNS traffic then triggers it, roughly once per 2500 clones. Observed on 6.12.101 and 7.1.8. Tracing page_pool_alloc_frag_netmem() over one such run shows the amplification -- two odd-sized requests, nine misaligned offsets: requested size & 7: 0: 17035 5: 1 7: 1 frag_offset & 7: 0: 17028 3: 1 4: 1 5: 1 6: 1 7: 5 and skb_pp_cow_data() returning heads that were aligned on entry: head 0xffff8f4c86aeac00 -> 0xffff8f4c53a9a9c4 (&7=4) head 0xffff8f4d6a8a42c0 -> 0xffff8f4c4f7b7a45 (&7=5) Round the fragment size up to at least the alignment struct skb_shared_info requires, so fragments are always suitably aligned for the objects callers build on them. Architectures needing a larger DMA alignment keep it. This also makes the remainder computed in page_pool_alloc_netmem(), *size = max_size - *offset; aligned, since max_size is a power of two -- which fixes the matching misalignment of skb->end. Verified with a controlled A/B under QEMU/KVM: same tree, same config, same compiler, same rootfs and identical traffic, differing only by this patch. A SEC("xdp.frags") XDP_PASS program on lo plus UDP datagrams larger than max_head_size drives skb_pp_cow_data()'s fragment loop, which passes raw packet lengths to the pool. Measured at the return of skb_pp_cow_data(): unpatched patched skb_pp_cow_data calls 40800 40800 misaligned skb->head 1120 0 dataref at line offset >60 80 0 The last row counts the accesses that actually fault: skb_shinfo()->dataref sits at head+end+0x20 and is a 4-byte atomic, so `lock incl` splits a 64-byte cache line only when that address lands at offset 61..63. All 80 occurrences were at offset 61; the panic reported above was at offset 62. Eliminating the misalignment removes every one of them. Same class of bug as commit 3bed3cc4156e ("net: Do not allocate page fragments t ---truncated---

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00173 6th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161 +4Red Hat: 4 without a fix

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux5.15 and later5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.15 and later Fixed in 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Linux

Remediation

Update the Linux kernel to 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13 or 7.3. The sources list no fixed version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13, 7.3

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5AffectedNo 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

  1. 2026-10-28 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99127
  2. 2026-10-28 Alias added: GHSA-4j2x-r727-jfq6
  3. 2026-10-29 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  4. 2026-10-29 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  5. 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  6. 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  7. 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@22b67b0f59f5a7f4fa1e6043a1987e167c5d06d2, Linux/Linux@31e1a71995f23446c9d9e6ba170a6b16b110d243, Linux/[email protected] +5 · CNA
  8. 2026-10-30 4 new references · CNA

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
See all 21741 →

Sources