Bug 2562686 (CVE-2026-99159)

Summary: CVE-2026-99159 kernel: kernel: Denial of Service via null pointer dereference in persistent ring buffer
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 ring-buffer subsystem. A local user can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by crashing the system when interacting with persistent ring buffers. Due to an incorrect sub-buffer index calculation, the kernel leaves an entry uninitialized, resulting in a null pointer dereference when userspace maps the raw trace pipe interface.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-28 10:49:10 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ring-buffer: Fix the sub-buffer array base in rb_meta_subbuf_idx()

On a persistent ring buffer, rb_meta_subbuf_idx() can return an index one
sub-buffer too high.  rb_setup_ids_meta_page() then fills subbuf_ids[]
shifted by one and leaves subbuf_ids[0] NULL, which __rb_map_vma()
dereferences when userspace maps trace_pipe_raw.  rb_update_meta_reader()
writes two such indices into meta->buffers[], which rb_cpu_meta_valid()
would reject on the next boot, discarding the previous boot's trace.

A CPU's sub-buffer array starts after its meta header and the nr_subbufs
integers that follow, aligned up to a sub-buffer.  rb_meta_subbuf_idx()
inverts that calculation but skips only the integers, not the header, so
its base is one sub-buffer low whenever the omitted header size crosses
the alignment boundary.

Invert the calculation with rb_subbufs_from_meta() rather than repeating
it.  rb_range_buffer() maps an index back to an address through the same
helper, so the two directions can no longer disagree.