Bug 2461453 (CVE-2026-31541)

Summary: CVE-2026-31541 kernel: tracing: Fix trace_marker copy link list updates
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
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Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. When a tracing instance with the `copy_trace_marker` option is enabled and subsequently deleted, a critical synchronization step is bypassed. This can lead to a Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerability, which may allow a local attacker to corrupt memory, potentially leading to system instability or arbitrary code execution.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-24 15:02:20 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tracing: Fix trace_marker copy link list updates

When the "copy_trace_marker" option is enabled for an instance, anything
written into /sys/kernel/tracing/trace_marker is also copied into that
instances buffer. When the option is set, that instance's trace_array
descriptor is added to the marker_copies link list. This list is protected
by RCU, as all iterations uses an RCU protected list traversal.

When the instance is deleted, all the flags that were enabled are cleared.
This also clears the copy_trace_marker flag and removes the trace_array
descriptor from the list.

The issue is after the flags are called, a direct call to
update_marker_trace() is performed to clear the flag. This function
returns true if the state of the flag changed and false otherwise. If it
returns true here, synchronize_rcu() is called to make sure all readers
see that its removed from the list.

But since the flag was already cleared, the state does not change and the
synchronization is never called, leaving a possible UAF bug.

Move the clearing of all flags below the updating of the copy_trace_marker
option which then makes sure the synchronization is performed.

Also use the flag for checking the state in update_marker_trace() instead
of looking at if the list is empty.