Bug 2521464 (CVE-2026-74601)

Summary: CVE-2026-74601 kernel: ring-buffer: Use current_context for safe per-CPU buffer swap
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   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's ring-buffer component. A race condition exists within the `ring_buffer_swap_cpu()` function, where a committing counter can temporarily drop to zero during a write operation. This allows a buffer swap to occur while a write is still in progress, resulting in an inconsistent buffer state. This inconsistency can lead to system instability and a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-22 15:46:52 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ring-buffer: Use current_context for safe per-CPU buffer swap

The ring_buffer_swap_cpu() function currently checks the per-CPU
committing counter to determine if a buffer is actively being written to
before performing the swap. However, there exists a race window where
this check can be bypassed:

    ring_buffer_lock_reserve
        cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu];       // cpu_buffer_a
        rb_reserve_next_event
            rb_start_commit // inc committing
            if (unlikely(READ_ONCE(cpu_buffer->buffer) != buffer)) {...}
            __rb_reserve_next
                rb_move_tail
                    rb_end_commit(cpu_buffer);   // dec committing => 0
                    /* interrupt hits here, successfully swaps! */
                    local_inc(&cpu_buffer->committing);

    ring_buffer_unlock_commit
        cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu];      // cpu_buffer_b
        rb_commit
            rb_end_commit
            RB_WARN_ON(cpu_buffer, !local_read(&cpu_buffer->committing))
                                                // triggers warning

The committing counter can temporarily drop to 0 during a single write
operation (within rb_move_tail), creating a window where swap can
succeed even though the write is still in progress. This leads to
inconsistent buffer state and triggers the RB_WARN_ON in rb_commit().

Replace the committing counter check with current_context checks, which
are set at the entry of ring_buffer_lock_reserve() and remain valid
throughout the entire write operation, providing a reliable indicator of
buffer busy state during swap.