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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2026-52991 json

sched/psi: fix race between file release and pressure write

published 2026-06-24 4 mo ago modified 2026-10-30 10 d ago also EUVD-2026-38859

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.1%
EPSS 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 3%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/psi: fix race between file release and pressure write

A potential race condition exists between pressure write and cgroup file release regarding the priv member of struct kernfs_open_file, which triggers the uaf reported in [1].

Consider the following scenario involving execution on two separate CPUs:

CPU0 CPU1 ==== ==== vfs_rmdir() kernfs_iop_rmdir() cgroup_rmdir() cgroup_kn_lock_live() cgroup_destroy_locked() cgroup_addrm_files() cgroup_rm_file() kernfs_remove_by_name() kernfs_remove_by_name_ns() vfs_write() __kernfs_remove() new_sync_write() kernfs_drain() kernfs_fop_write_iter() kernfs_drain_open_files() cgroup_file_write() kernfs_release_file() pressure_write() cgroup_file_release() ctx = of->priv; kfree(ctx); of->priv = NULL; cgroup_kn_unlock() cgroup_kn_lock_live() cgroup_get(cgrp) cgroup_kn_unlock() if (ctx->psi.trigger) // here, trigger uaf for ctx, that is of->priv

The cgroup_rmdir() is protected by the cgroup_mutex, it also safeguards the memory deallocation of of->priv performed within cgroup_file_release(). However, the operations involving of->priv executed within pressure_write() are not entirely covered by the protection of cgroup_mutex. Consequently, if the code in pressure_write(), specifically the section handling the ctx variable executes after cgroup_file_release() has completed, a uaf vulnerability involving of->priv is triggered.

Therefore, the issue can be resolved by extending the scope of the cgroup_mutex lock within pressure_write() to encompass all code paths involving of->priv, thereby properly synchronizing the race condition occurring between cgroup_file_release() and pressure_write().

And, if an live kn lock can be successfully acquired while executing the pressure write operation, it indicates that the cgroup deletion process has not yet reached its final stage; consequently, the priv pointer within open_file cannot be NULL. Therefore, the operation to retrieve the ctx value must be moved to a point *after* the live kn lock has been successfully acquired.

In another situation, specifically after entering cgroup_kn_lock_live() but before acquiring cgroup_mutex, there exists a different class of race condition:

CPU0: write memory.pressure CPU1: write cgroup.pressure=0 =========================== =============================

kernfs_fop_write_iter() kernfs_get_active_of(of) pressure_write() cgroup_kn_lock_live(memory.pressure) cgroup_tryget(cgrp) kernfs_break_active_protection(kn) ... blocks on cgroup_mutex

cgroup_pressure_write() cgroup_kn_lock_live(cgroup.pressure) cgroup_file_show(memory.pressure, false) kernfs_show(false) kernfs_drain_open_files() cgroup_file_release(of) kfree(ctx) of->priv = NULL cgroup_kn_unlock()

... acquires cgroup_mutex ctx = of->priv; // may now be NULL if (ctx->psi.trigger) // NULL dereference

Consequently, there is a possibility that of->priv is NULL, the pressure write needs to check for this.

Now that the scope of the cgroup_mutex has been expanded, the original explicit cgroup_get/put operations are no longer necessary, this is because acquiring/releasing the live kn lock inherently executes a cgroup get/put operation.

[1] BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in pressure_write+0xa4/0x210 kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c:4011 Call Trace: pressure_write+0xa4/0x210 kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c:4011 cgroup_file_write+0x36f/0x790 kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c:43 ---truncated---

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.33, 7.0.10, 7.1
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.115-2
  • linux Debian 14 7.0.10-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-52991

  • linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-28.28
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1009.9
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.8
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1003.4
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1010.10
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1010.10
  • linux-raspi Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1015.15
  • linux-riscv Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-28.28.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-52991

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • bpftool RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • kernel-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • kernel-tools RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • python3-perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • kernel-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
  • kernel-zfcpdump RHEL 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10

red hat advisories RHSA-2026:57253RHSA-2026:57254RHSA-2026:57252RHSA-2026:57251

  • kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-default-base SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1.160000.2.23
  • kernel-syms SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-azure SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-obs-qa SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:23887-1SUSE-SU-2026:23902-1SUSE-SU-2026:23897-1SUSE-SU-2026:23881-1SUSE-SU-2026:3810-1SUSE-SU-2026:3790-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
  • kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21910-1

  • kernel AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • rv AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • perf AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • rtla AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • libperf AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • kernel-rt AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • kernel-64k AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • kernel-core AlmaLinux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2

almalinux advisories ALSA-2026:57251ALSA-2026:57252ALSA-2026:57253ALSA-2026:57254

  • kernel Rocky Linux 10 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
  • kernel Rocky Linux 9 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8
  • kernel-rt Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10
  • kernel Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2026:57251RLSA-2026:57252RLSA-2026:57254RLSA-2026:57253

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-52991 updated cvss 7.0

kernel: sched/psi: fix race between file release and pressure write

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-core, kernel-rt-modules, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-debug-core, +12 more
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, perf 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, rtla 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, python3-perf 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57252
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 10) rv 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, perf 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, rtla 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, python3-perf 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-devel-matched 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-64k-devel-matched 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57251
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, kernel 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, bpftool 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, kernel-core 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, kernel-tools 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, python3-perf 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, +15 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57253
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-64k 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-tools 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-modules 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-64k-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, +27 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57252
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 10) kernel 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-64k 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-tools 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-modules 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-64k-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, +28 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57251
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57252
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 10) libperf 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57251
show 8 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-553.157.1.el8_10
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57253
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-kvm 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57254
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-64k 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-64k-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57252
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 10) kernel-rt 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-64k 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-modules 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-64k-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-debug-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, +14 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57251
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-modules-core 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, kernel-rt-debug-modules 5.14.0-687.41.1.el9_8, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57252
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 10) kernel-rt 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-modules 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-debug-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-modules-core 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, kernel-rt-debug-modules 6.12.0-211.49.1.el10_2, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57251
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-modules 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, kernel-rt-modules-extra 4.18.0-553.157.1.rt7.498.el8_10, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2026:57254
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
23 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.15% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 3% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA ADP 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-367 Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition
  • CWE-362 Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.