Bug 2507285 (CVE-2026-64418) - CVE-2026-64418 kernel: mm: shrinker: fix shrinker_info teardown race with expansion
Summary: CVE-2026-64418 kernel: mm: shrinker: fix shrinker_info teardown race with exp...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-64418
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-07-25 10:14 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-09-18 06:44 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Environment:
Last Closed:
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System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Product Errata RHSA-2026:61887 0 None None None 2026-09-01 07:31:09 UTC

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-25 10:14:33 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm: shrinker: fix shrinker_info teardown race with expansion

expand_shrinker_info() iterates all visible memcgs under shrinker_mutex,
including memcgs that have not finished ->css_online() yet.

Once pn->shrinker_info has been published, teardown must stay serialized
with expand_shrinker_info() until that memcg is either fully online or no
longer visible to iteration.  Today alloc_shrinker_info() breaks that rule
by dropping shrinker_mutex before freeing a partially initialized
shrinker_info array, which may cause the following race:

CPU0                   CPU1
====                   ====

css_create
--> list_add_tail_rcu(&css->sibling, &parent_css->children);
    online_css
    --> mem_cgroup_css_online
        --> alloc_shrinker_info
            --> alloc node0 info
                rcu_assign_pointer(C->node0->shrinker_info, old0)
                alloc node1 info -> FAIL -> goto err
                mutex_unlock(shrinker_mutex)

                       shrinker_alloc()
                       --> shrinker_memcg_alloc
                           --> mutex_lock(shrinker_mutex)
                               expand_shrinker_info
                               --> mem_cgroup_iter see the memcg
                                   expand_one_shrinker_info
                                   --> old0 = C->node0->shrinker_info
                                       memcpy(new->unit, old0->unit, ...);

                free_shrinker_info
                --> kvfree(old0);

                                       /* double free !! */
                                       kvfree_rcu(old0, rcu);

The same problem exists later in mem_cgroup_css_online().  If
alloc_shrinker_info() succeeds but a subsequent objcg allocation fails,
the free_objcg -> free_shrinker_info() unwind path tears down the already
published pn->shrinker_info arrays without shrinker_mutex.  The
expand_one_shrinker_info() can race with that teardown in the same way,
leading to use-after-free or double-free of the old shrinker_info.

Fix this by serializing shrinker_info teardown with shrinker_mutex, and by
keeping alloc_shrinker_info() error cleanup inside the locked section.

Comment 3 errata-xmlrpc 2026-09-01 07:31:08 UTC
This issue has been addressed in the following products:

  Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Via RHSA-2026:61887 https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:61887


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