Warning in Linux kernel tracing hist triggers on buffered events
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 from 5.13 is affected. When a histogram trigger is attached to a tracing event that has a filter, the kernel can read the timestamp of an event still held in a per-CPU temporary buffer, where the ring buffer's commit state is not set. This makes WARN_ON_ONCE fire and print a warning instead of recording the current time. The warning is probabilistically reproducible through tracing configuration.
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: tracing: Fix hist trigger timestamps for buffered events Syzkaller triggered a WARN_ON_ONCE(!nest) warning: WARNING: kernel/trace/ring_buffer.c:821 at ring_buffer_event_time_stamp Call trace: ring_buffer_event_time_stamp hist_field_timestamp hist_fn_call event_hist_trigger event_triggers_call __event_trigger_test_discard trace_event_buffer_commit do_trace_event_raw_event_sched_switch trace_event_raw_event_sched_switch The warning is probabilistically reproducible and is related to syzkaller executing the following commands: echo 'prev_pid == 999999' > events/sched/sched_switch/filter echo 'hist:keys=common_timestamp' > events/sched/sched_switch/trigger The specific triggering process is as follows: CPU 0 CPU 1 (context switching) (echo 'hist:keys=common_timestamp' > \ events/sched/sched_switch/trigger) do_trace_event_raw_event_##call trace_event_buffer_lock_reserve if (!tr->no_filter_buffering_ref && trace_file->flags & EVENT_FILE_FL_FILTERED) return entry; // return directly event_hist_trigger_parse hist_register_trigger tracing_set_filter_buffering(file->tr, true); tr->no_filter_buffering_ref++; __trace_buffer_lock_reserve rb_start_commit local_inc(&cpu_buffer->committing); // skipped and not executed trace_event_buffer_commit __event_trigger_test_discard event_triggers_call event_hist_trigger hist_fn_call hist_field_timestamp ring_buffer_event_time_stamp nest = local_read(&cpu_buffer->committing); WARN_ON_ONCE(!nest) // trigger warning The root cause is that when an event file has a filter attached and the hist trigger has not yet been attached, trace_event_buffer_lock_reserve() writes the event into the per-CPU trace_buffered_event temp buffer instead of reserving it in the ring buffer, so cpu_buffer->committing is not incremented. When the event is later processed at commit time by a hist trigger, hist_field_timestamp() -> ring_buffer_event_time_stamp() sees a zero committing count, triggering WARN_ON_ONCE(!nest). tracing_event_time_stamp() was added by commit d8279bfc5e959 ("tracing: Add tracing_event_time_stamp() API") for exactly this case: if the event is the per-CPU trace_buffered_event, it returns the current ring buffer timestamp. But it never gained a caller. Use it in hist_field_timestamp(), so that a hist trigger that races onto a buffered event records the current time, which is only marginally later than when the event was recorded, instead of warning and recording a bogus timestamp.
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 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.13 or 7.3, depending on the branch in use. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 are affected, and Red Hat has no fix plan available for them.
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: 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
- 2026-10-28 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99140
- 2026-10-28 Alias added: GHSA-jpcj-q7f6-fxvj
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected], Linux/[email protected] +5 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 4 new references · CNA
References
Other 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b3a94a79047d3fc9385b3709cb2b86f4a26ed0c3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/71c5c7420478d94d6eb0b427f66fa41bbda651e3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab320f6aa3769480f735ed0ad026c4a61799b7bc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af192a356e9830a0df231b590ad6fb1fc28c9315
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/09c7cce2e59e6b3b1807520bcb1980c561f15d1e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/89e90b16aadd6e66bd0323bc8dfc76a62e756b57
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9414ca3b99e5a7f1f3bf51c2a01b383e1b355dd0
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Sources
- CVE-2026-99140 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-99140 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-jpcj-q7f6-fxvj · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-99140 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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