CVE-2026-98642

What the bug is

Syzkaller repeatedly triggered UAF splats related to nodes in waiting_for_gp_ttrace within the bpf memalloc: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in llist_del_first+0x85/0x110 lib/llist.c:61 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8881572cd080 by task syz.4.470/5112 ... llist_del_first+0x85/0x110 lib/llist.c:61 alloc_bulk+0x193/0x460 kernel/bpf/memalloc.c:229 bpf_mem_refill+0x386/0x560 kernel/bpf/memalloc.c:436 Freed by task 14: ... __free_rcu kernel/bpf/memalloc.c:281 [inline] __free_rcu_tasks_trace+0x48/0xd0 kernel/bpf/memalloc.c:291 rcu_tasks_invoke_cbs+0x1ec/0x3e0 kernel/rcu/tasks.h:571 rcu_tasks_one_gp+0x13d/0x220 kernel/rcu/tasks.h:621 rcu_tasks_kthread+0xf3/0x120 kernel/rcu/tasks.h:651 The reason is that the UAF occurs after the RCU Tasks Trace GP expires: when the __free_rcu() callback runs, there is no synchronization protecting llist_del_all() against concurrent alloc_bulk() operating on waiting_for_gp_ttrace, leading to the race condition below: CPU0 CPU1 __free_rcu (RCU Tasks Trace callback) alloc_bulk llist_del_first(&c->waiting_for_gp_ttrace) entry = smp_load_acquire(&head->first); do { if (entry == NULL) return NULL; free_all(llist_del_all(&c->waiting_for_gp_ttrace)) llist_for_each_safe(pos, t, llnode) free_one(pos); next = READ_ONCE(entry->next); <-- trigger UAF } while (!try_cmpxchg(&head->first, &entry, next)); In addition, there is also a theoretical race condition on the free_by_rcu_ttrace list. This race requires two preconditions: an in-flight Tasks Trace GP keeping c->call_rcu_ttrace_in_progress == 1, and concurrent cross-CPU frees repopulating c->free_by_rcu_ttrace with new nodes. Under these conditions, the following scenario triggers UAF: // CPU0 // irq work is still busy (on PREEMPT_RT) alloc_bulk() llist_del_first(&c->free_by_rcu_ttrace) entry = smp_load_acquire(&head->first); do { if (entry == NULL) return NULL; // CPU1 bpf_mem_alloc_destroy() WRITE_ONCE(c->draining, true) // wait for CPU0 irq_work_sync() // CPU2 do_call_rcu_ttrace(tgt(CPU0)) if (c->draining) { llist_del_all(&c->free_by_rcu_ttrace) free_all() } // CPU0 continue next = READ_ONCE(entry->next); <-- trigger UAF while (!try_cmpxchg(&head->first, &entry, next)); Fix this by introducing a raw spinlock to synchronize the concurrent consumption on waiting_for_gp_ttrace and free_by_rcu_ttrace.

Where it lives

The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.

kernel/bpf/memalloc.c

What this is

BPF [GENERAL] (Safe Dynamic Programs and Tools)MAINTAINERS section matched on kernel/bpf/ · bpf@vger.kernel.org · Supported

Check it on the machine

grep -wE 'CONFIG_BPF|CONFIG_BPF_SYSCALL' /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.

Show whether Debian builds this, per release

Debian builds this code. Every release below compiles the affected file into the kernels it ships.

• bookworm, trixie, forky, sidy

y

built into the kernel image on every flavour - only a patch removes it

Build switches

CONFIG_BPF, CONFIG_BPF_SYSCALL

Reads as

all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.

From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages

Signals

Published

2026-10-18 (today)source

CVSS

no vector published, unrated

Attack vector

not published

EPSS

not scored

CISA KEV

not listedthe KEV catalogue

Debian urgency

unimportantsource

Subsystem

kernel/bpf

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

Introduced	Fixed in	Commit
6.6	6.12.112	a0e150a11802
6.6	6.18.55	1d6581b544a8
6.6	7.2.9	f101602415fb
6.6	7.3	1c21452d02ee