Bug 2482590 (CVE-2026-46196)

Summary: CVE-2026-46196 kernel: tracepoint: balance regfunc() on func_add() failure in tracepoint_add_func()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
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 tracepoint (a mechanism for dynamic instrumentation) is registered, a failure during the probe installation process can lead to the registration's side effects persisting without a corresponding probe. This can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by leaving system resources in an inconsistent state, specifically by increasing syscall trace entry/exit overhead for all tasks until the system is rebooted.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-05-28 11:04:44 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tracepoint: balance regfunc() on func_add() failure in tracepoint_add_func()

When a tracepoint goes through the 0 -> 1 transition, tracepoint_add_func()
invokes the subsystem's ext->regfunc() before attempting to install the
new probe via func_add(). If func_add() then fails (for example, when
allocate_probes() cannot allocate a new probe array under memory pressure
and returns -ENOMEM), the function returns the error without calling the
matching ext->unregfunc(), leaving the side effects of regfunc() behind
with no installed probe to justify them.

For syscall tracepoints this is particularly unpleasant: syscall_regfunc()
bumps sys_tracepoint_refcount and sets SYSCALL_TRACEPOINT on every task.
After a leaked failure, the refcount is stuck at a non-zero value with no
consumer, and every task continues paying the syscall trace entry/exit
overhead until reboot. Other subsystems providing regfunc()/unregfunc()
pairs exhibit similarly scoped persistent state.

Mirror the existing 1 -> 0 cleanup and call ext->unregfunc() in the
func_add() error path, gated on the same condition used there so the
unwind is symmetric with the registration.