Bug 2536578 (CVE-2026-90185)

Summary: CVE-2026-90185 kernel: null_blk: serialize configfs attribute stores with the lock
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: 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   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's `null_blk` module. This vulnerability occurs because concurrent operations on `configfs` attributes are not properly synchronized. A local user could exploit this timing issue to modify data during device setup, leading to an out-of-bounds memory access. This could cause system instability or a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-17 18:30:11 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

null_blk: serialize configfs attribute stores with the lock

The NULLB_DEVICE_ATTR _store takes no lock: apply_fn attributes
(submit_queues, poll_queues) get dev->NAME written again after apply_fn
returns, outside its lock; APPLY=NULL attributes are entirely lockless.
configfs only serializes stores per-open-file, so concurrent stores on
separate fds race.

For apply_fn attributes, once one store's apply_fn has reconfigured the
hardware, a second (losing) store can still overwrite dev->NAME
afterwards. This leaves dev->submit_queues out of sync with the live
queue count, which is later caught by the WARN_ON_ONCE() in
null_map_queues().

For !apply_fn attributes, power_store()'s null_add_dev() validates and
builds the device under "lock" but only sets CONFIGURED afterwards. A store
slipping in during this window can change a field mid-setup -- for example,
zone_nr_conv can be pushed above nr_zones after it has already been
clamped, leading to an out-of-bounds dev->zones[] access.

Take "lock" in the macro around the apply_fn call, the CONFIGURED test and
the field write, and move it out of nullb_apply_submit_queues()/
nullb_apply_poll_queues() so both paths are covered once. This serializes
stores with power_store's setup and with each other.
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-09-23 21:33:46 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-90185.mbox