Bug 2554967 (CVE-2026-98540)

Summary: CVE-2026-98540 kernel: fprobe: Terminate the fgraph_data list when the reservation is not filled
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 function probe (fprobe) tracing component. This vulnerability can result in a Denial of Service (DoS) due to improper memory initialization. When tracing kernel functions, unused shadow stack space is left uncleared, causing return routines to parse leftover data from earlier calls as valid headers. A local user with tracing privileges can trigger this issue to run probe exit handlers unexpectedly, leading to kernel instability or a system crash.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:36:20 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

fprobe: Terminate the fgraph_data list when the reservation is not filled

fprobe_fgraph_entry() reserves shadow stack space for every fprobe with
an exit handler, but only fills it for those whose entry handler returns
0. fgraph_reserve_data() does not clear the area, so fprobe_return()
parses the unused tail as headers left over from an earlier call, and an
exit handler can run twice or despite its entry handler asking to skip
it.

Write a zero word after the last entry to terminate the walk. A zeroed
slot does not decode to a NULL fprobe on the arches that encode the
header into one unsigned long, since arch_decode_fprobe_header_fp() ORs
in FPROBE_HEADER_MSB_PATTERN, so make read_fprobe_header() return NULL
for a zeroed slot.