7.8
/ 10
HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
perf/core: Fix refcount bug and potential UAF in perf_mmap
Syzkaller reported a refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free warning
in perf_mmap.
The issue is caused by a race condition between a failing mmap() setup
and a concurrent mmap() on a dependent event (e.g., using output
redirection).
In perf_mmap(), the ring_buffer (rb) is allocated and assigned to
event->rb with the mmap_mutex held. The mutex is then released to
perform map_range().
If map_range() fails, perf_mmap_close() is called to clean up.
However, since the mutex was dropped, another thread attaching to
this event (via inherited events or output redirection) can acquire
the mutex, observe the valid event->rb pointer, and attempt to
increment its reference count. If the cleanup path has already
dropped the reference count to zero, this results in a
use-after-free or refcount saturation warning.
Fix this by extending the scope of mmap_mutex to cover the
map_range() call. This ensures that the ring buffer initialization
and mapping (or cleanup on failure) happens atomically effectively,
preventing other threads from accessing a half-initialized or
dying ring buffer.
perf/core: Fix refcount bug and potential UAF in perf_mmap
Syzkaller reported a refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free warning
in perf_mmap.
The issue is caused by a race condition between a failing mmap() setup
and a concurrent mmap() on a dependent event (e.g., using output
redirection).
In perf_mmap(), the ring_buffer (rb) is allocated and assigned to
event->rb with the mmap_mutex held. The mutex is then released to
perform map_range().
If map_range() fails, perf_mmap_close() is called to clean up.
However, since the mutex was dropped, another thread attaching to
this event (via inherited events or output redirection) can acquire
the mutex, observe the valid event->rb pointer, and attempt to
increment its reference count. If the cleanup path has already
dropped the reference count to zero, this results in a
use-after-free or refcount saturation warning.
Fix this by extending the scope of mmap_mutex to cover the
map_range() call. This ensures that the ring buffer initialization
and mapping (or cleanup on failure) happens atomically effectively,
preventing other threads from accessing a half-initialized or
dying ring buffer.
Basic Information
ID
CVE-2026-23248
Source
Linux
Published
Mar 18, 2026 at 10:05
Modified
Apr 2, 2026 at 14:43
Affected Product
Vendor
Linux
Product
Linux
Version
b709eb872e19a19607bbb6d2975bc264d59735cf
Affected Versions
Linux Linux b709eb872e19a19607bbb6d2975bc264d59735cf
Linux Linux b709eb872e19a19607bbb6d2975bc264d59735cf
Linux Linux b709eb872e19a19607bbb6d2975bc264d59735cf
Linux Linux 6.14
Linux Linux b709eb872e19a19607bbb6d2975bc264d59735cf
Linux Linux b709eb872e19a19607bbb6d2975bc264d59735cf
Linux Linux 6.14