Bug 2562704 (CVE-2026-99203)

Summary: CVE-2026-99203 kernel: pipe: preserve existing fasync readers on writer setup failure
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 pipe subsystem. Improper error handling during asynchronous input/output (I/O) notification setup can leave freed file structures referenced after an allocation failure. A local, unprivileged attacker could exploit this condition under memory pressure to trigger a use-after-free vulnerability, leading to a system crash and Denial of Service (DoS) or potential privilege escalation.
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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 2026-10-28 10:53:06 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

pipe: preserve existing fasync readers on writer setup failure

F_SETFL and FIOASYNC decide whether to invoke ->fasync() before
pipe_fasync() takes pipe->mutex. Two enables of one O_RDWR FIFO can
therefore both enter the callback.

fasync_helper() allocates before checking for an existing entry. If the
first enable installs both entries, a second enable can update the
reader entry and then fail the allocation for the writer entry. The
error path removes the pre-existing reader entry, clearing FASYNC while
the writer entry remains registered. __fput() then skips ->fasync(), so a
later pipe notification can dereference the freed file or its f_owner.
An unprivileged memory-pressure reproducer triggers a KASAN
slab-use-after-free in send_sigio() through this path.

Keep the reader helper's result and undo the registration only if this
call added it. The pipe mutex serializes changes to both lists, so a
failed new registration still removes its reader, while a failed
duplicate preserves the existing registrations and FASYNC. Successful
duplicate enables continue to update fa_fd as before.