Bug 2508319 (CVE-2026-64556)

Summary: CVE-2026-64556 kernel: perf/core: Detach event groups during remove_on_exec
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: high    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akito5623, 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 performance monitoring unit (PMU) subsystem. This vulnerability occurs when a performance event group leader is removed during process execution, but its associated events (siblings) remain active and linked to a stale list. This inconsistent state can lead to a corruption of the PMU context active list, potentially causing system instability or a denial of service. A local attacker could potentially exploit this to disrupt system operations.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-29 09:01:36 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

perf/core: Detach event groups during remove_on_exec

perf_event_remove_on_exec() removes events by calling
perf_event_exit_event(). For top-level events, this removes the event from
the context with DETACH_EXIT only.

This can leave inconsistent group state when a removed event is a group
leader and the group contains siblings without remove_on_exec. If the group
was active, the surviving siblings can remain active and attached to the
removed leader's sibling list, but are no longer represented by a valid
group leader on the PMU context active lists.

A later close of the removed leader uses DETACH_GROUP and can promote the
still-active siblings from this stale group state. The next schedule-in can
then add an already-linked active_list entry again, corrupting the PMU
context active list.

With DEBUG_LIST enabled, this is caught as a list_add double-add in
merge_sched_in().

Fix this by detaching group relationships when remove_on_exec removes an
event. This preserves the existing task-exit and revoke behavior, while
ensuring surviving siblings are ungrouped before the removed event leaves
the context.

Comment 6 Akiyoshi Kurita 2026-08-28 01:02:32 UTC
FYI, a public exploit / PoC for CVE-2026-64556 is now available.

Red Hat CVE:
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2026-64556

Public exploit / PoC:
https://github.com/google/security-research/tree/d9fa91ad8392ead13cbc53fb44a56b187dd88cb9/pocs/linux/kernelctf/CVE-2026-64556_lts/exploit/lts-6.12.91

Relevant stable kernel fixes:

RHEL 8 / RHEL 9 reference (6.6.145 backport):
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=4cdb1b3ab96eb1b7eb70bc5c82fede334bd60df2

RHEL 10 reference (6.12.96 backport):
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=39358e856fb89e62e3c8d7389a2dc4ec33dbe90e

From reviewing the upstream fix, I could not identify an obvious practical runtime mitigation other than updating to a fixed kernel.

If there is any Red Hat-specific mitigation available before the fixed kernel is installed, please let me know.

Comment 10 Jon Orris 2026-09-28 11:13:15 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Via RHSA-2026:72467 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:72467

Comment 11 Jon Orris 2026-09-28 12:03:31 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Via RHSA-2026:72468 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:72468

Comment 12 Jon Orris 2026-09-28 17:45:07 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Via RHSA-2026:72624 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:72624

Comment 13 Jon Orris 2026-09-28 18:43:48 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Via RHSA-2026:72623 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:72623