Bug 2481957 (CVE-2026-46051)

Summary: CVE-2026-46051 kernel: md/raid5: fix soft lockup in retry_aligned_read()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
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's md/raid5 component. When the retry_aligned_read() function encounters an overlapped stripe, an issue in how stripes are released and processed can lead to an infinite loop. This prevents the system from resolving the overlap, resulting in a soft lockup and a Denial of Service (DoS) for the affected system.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-05-27 15:04:15 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

md/raid5: fix soft lockup in retry_aligned_read()

When retry_aligned_read() encounters an overlapped stripe, it releases
the stripe via raid5_release_stripe() which puts it on the lockless
released_stripes llist. In the next raid5d loop iteration,
release_stripe_list() drains the stripe onto handle_list (since
STRIPE_HANDLE is set by the original IO), but retry_aligned_read()
runs before handle_active_stripes() and removes the stripe from
handle_list via find_get_stripe() -> list_del_init(). This prevents
handle_stripe() from ever processing the stripe to resolve the
overlap, causing an infinite loop and soft lockup.

Fix this by using __release_stripe() with temp_inactive_list instead
of raid5_release_stripe() in the failure path, so the stripe does not
go through the released_stripes llist. This allows raid5d to break out
of its loop, and the overlap will be resolved when the stripe is
eventually processed by handle_stripe().
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-05-27 19:14:56 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026052753-CVE-2026-46051-e465@gregkh/T