Bug 2502456 (CVE-2026-63929)

Summary: CVE-2026-63929 kernel: iio: buffer: Fix DMA fence leak in iio_buffer_enqueue_dmabuf()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Industrial I/O (iio) buffer component. The `iio_buffer_enqueue_dmabuf()` function, responsible for managing Direct Memory Access (DMA) buffers, fails to properly release a memory reference. This oversight results in a continuous memory leak, where small blocks of memory are permanently allocated but never freed. Over time, this can lead to memory exhaustion and a Denial of Service (DoS) condition, making the system unstable or unresponsive.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-19 16:09:09 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

iio: buffer: Fix DMA fence leak in iio_buffer_enqueue_dmabuf()

iio_buffer_enqueue_dmabuf() allocates a struct iio_dma_fence (104 bytes,
kmalloc-128) via kmalloc_obj()+dma_fence_init(), which sets the initial
kref to 1.  It then calls dma_resv_add_fence() which takes a second
reference (kref=2), and stores a raw pointer in block->fence.

On the success path the function returns without calling dma_fence_put()
to release the initial reference, so every buffer enqueue permanently
leaks one kmalloc-128 allocation.

The iio_buffer_cleanup() work item only releases the temporary reference
taken during completion signalling by iio_buffer_signal_dmabuf_done();
the initial reference from dma_fence_init() is never released.

With four iio_rwdev instances at 240kHz and 512 samples per buffer,
this produces ~1875 kmalloc-128 allocations per second matching the
observed slab growth exactly. A test with ftrace confirmed that the
dma_fence_destroy event was never triggered.

Fix by calling dma_fence_put() after dma_resv_add_fence(), transferring
ownership of the fence to the DMA reservation object. The DMA fence then
gets properly discarded after being signalled.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-07-21 13:35:46 UTC
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026071950-CVE-2026-63929-42fb@gregkh/T