Bug 2559749 (CVE-2026-99007)

Summary: CVE-2026-99007 kernel: drm/fb-helper: defer setup when fbdev_probe() fails, not just on -EAGAIN
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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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) framebuffer helper. A local user could trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) due to improper error handling during framebuffer device probing. When initialization fails unexpectedly, the kernel fails to mark the setup as deferred, leaving display configurations in an incomplete state. A subsequent display restore operation may commit this invalid state, resulting in a kernel crash or system instability.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-23 13:29:37 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

drm/fb-helper: defer setup when fbdev_probe() fails, not just on -EAGAIN

__drm_fb_helper_initial_config_and_unlock() calls
drm_client_modeset_probe() first, which already fills in each
mode_set->mode/num_connectors for every connected output, and only
afterwards calls drm_fb_helper_single_fb_probe() to create
fb_helper->fb and wire it into those mode_sets via
drm_setup_crtcs_fb().

If drm_fb_helper_single_fb_probe() fails with anything other than
-EAGAIN (e.g. dev->driver->fbdev_probe() itself fails), the function
bails out before drm_setup_crtcs_fb() runs and before setting
fb_helper->deferred_setup. The client is left with mode_sets that
have a mode and connectors but mode_set->fb == NULL, and nothing
marks this fb_helper as needing a retry.

__drm_fb_helper_restore_fbdev_mode_unlocked() only skips committing
when fb_helper->deferred_setup is set, so a later .restore() call
(drm_lastclose() on process exit, in this report) commits the stale
mode_set through drm_client_modeset_commit() ->
drm_client_modeset_commit_atomic() -> __drm_atomic_helper_set_config(),
which hits WARN_ON(!set->fb).

Mark fb_helper->deferred_setup on any drm_fb_helper_single_fb_probe()
failure, not just -EAGAIN, so restore keeps skipping the commit until
a later hotplug event successfully re-probes and re-populates
mode_set->fb. The real error code is still returned to the caller
unchanged.