Bug 2541120 (CVE-2026-97986)

Summary:	CVE-2026-97986 kernel: virtio_input: stop callbacks before unregistering input device
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
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's virtio_input driver. A race condition during device removal can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) via a kernel crash. Because the driver unregisters the input device before resetting the underlying virtual device, in-flight event callbacks may access freed device data. A local user could exploit this timing issue during device disconnection to destabilize or crash the system.	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 2026-09-25 10:50:02 UTC

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

virtio_input: stop callbacks before unregistering input device

virtinput_remove() unregisters the input device before resetting the
virtio device. virtinput_recv_events() drops vi->lock around input_event(),
so clearing vi->ready does not stop a callback that passed the entry check.
It can still use vi->idev, requeue buffers and kick the queue.

Reset first, as virtinput_freeze() already does. With the preceding core
change, reset waits for callbacks before input_unregister_device() can
free vi->idev. Recheck vi->ready after taking the lock again: keep draining
completed events so an input packet is not truncated, but stop requeueing
buffers and kicking the queue.

With evdev attached, input_unregister_handle() currently waits for an RCU
grace period, which also waits out IRQ callbacks. This masks the lifetime
bug on PCI and MMIO, but does not protect sleepable callbacks on other
transports.

Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-09-30 07:35:52 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97986.mbox