Bug 2540179 (CVE-2026-93221)

Summary: CVE-2026-93221 kernel: nfsd: convert nfsd_net boolean flags to unsigned long flags word
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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 NFS daemon (nfsd). A race condition occurs when multiple internal processes concurrently access the `grace_ended` flag without proper synchronization. This can lead to memory corruption, including double-free vulnerabilities and attempts to read from freed memory. The most significant consequence is a potential denial of service, which could impact system availability.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-24 15:21:44 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nfsd: convert nfsd_net boolean flags to unsigned long flags word

nfsd_net contains several boolean fields that are accessed from
concurrent contexts without serialization.  In particular,
nfsd4_end_grace() guards its drain path with a plain bool:

    if (nn->grace_ended)
            return;
    nn->grace_ended = true;

The read and the write are independent, and nothing in struct
nfsd_net serializes them.  At least two contexts can reach this
code with no lock held:

    laundromat path
      laundry_wq kworker
        nfs4_laundromat()
          nfsd4_end_grace()

    RECLAIM_COMPLETE path
      nfsd compound kthread
        nfsd4_reclaim_complete()
          inc_reclaim_complete()
            nfsd4_end_grace()

Both callers can observe grace_ended == false on different CPUs,
both store true, and both proceed into nfsd4_record_grace_done(),
which invokes the active client_tracking_ops->grace_done callback.
For tracking ops that drain reclaim_str_hashtbl (legacy_tracking_ops
via nfsd4_recdir_purge_old, and the cld v1+ ops via
nfsd4_cld_grace_done), grace_done calls nfs4_release_reclaim(),
which walks every bucket of reclaim_str_hashtbl with no lock and
calls nfs4_remove_reclaim_record() (list_del + kfree) on each
entry.  Two concurrent walkers corrupt the list and double-free
every nfs4_client_reclaim.  A concurrent nfsd4_find_reclaim_client()
iterating the same bucket reads through freed memory.

A third call site exists in nfs4_state_start_net() on the
skip_grace startup path, but it runs under nfsd_mutex before any
client has connected and before the laundromat's first delayed
work fires, so it cannot race with the two callers above.

Replace the scattered boolean fields in nfsd_net with a single
unsigned long flags word and an enum nfsd_net_flag for the bit
positions.  The grace_ended race is fixed by using
test_and_set_bit(), which is atomic on all architectures.  The
remaining flags (grace_end_forced, in_grace, somebody_reclaimed,
track_reclaim_completes, nfsd_net_up, lockd_up) are converted to
use test_bit/set_bit/clear_bit for consistency.  This avoids
sub-word cmpxchg issues on architectures like Hexagon that only
support word-sized atomic operations.