Bug 2527873 (CVE-2026-80730)

Summary:	CVE-2026-80730 kernel: ring-buffer: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop()
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, 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. The `ring-buffer` component's cleanup routine can incorrectly attempt to stop a kernel thread using an invalid error pointer. This happens when `kthread_run_on_cpu()` fails, storing an error pointer in the `rb_threads` array. Calling `kthread_stop()` on this invalid pointer causes a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a kernel crash and a Denial of Service (DoS).	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 2026-09-03 08:43:27 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ring-buffer: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop()

In test_ringbuffer()'s out_free cleanup loop, the check
`!rb_threads[cpu]` only catches NULL entries and misses entries that
hold an ERR_PTR.

rb_threads[] is static, so unassigned slots are NULL. But when
kthread_run_on_cpu() fails for a cpu, it stores ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) (or
-EINTR) in rb_threads[cpu] before the creation loop jumps to out_free.
That entry is non-NULL, so the old `!ptr` check does not break, and the
cleanup proceeds to call kthread_stop() on the ERR_PTR. kthread_stop()
then dereferences the bogus pointer, crashing the kernel during the
late_initcall self-test.

crash logs:
  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 000000000000001c
  Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
  CPU: 1 PID: 1 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 7.2.0-rc6-dirty #7 PREEMPT(lazy)
  RIP: 0010:kthread_stop+0x2e/0x220
  RBX: fffffffffffffff4
  CR2: 000000000000001c
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   test_ringbuffer+0x1ec/0x650
   do_one_initcall+0x6c/0x2c0
   kernel_init_freeable+0x21d/0x420
   kernel_init+0x15/0x1c0
   ret_from_fork+0x21b/0x320
   </TASK>
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-09-04 10:00:36 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-80730.mbox