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CVE-2026-98431 json

RDMA/uverbs: Fix mmap_lock/disassociation_lock circular dependency

published 28d ago modified 23d ago also EUVD-2026-101024

cvss
—
not scored
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 9%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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

RDMA/uverbs: Fix mmap_lock/disassociation_lock circular dependency

Commit 51976c6cd786 ("RDMA/core: Provide rdma_user_mmap_disassociate() to disassociate mmap pages") introduced disassociation_lock to protect new mmap registrations against uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate(), but created an ABBA deadlock:

Thread A (mmap / fork): mmap_lock -> disassociation_lock

Thread B (disassociate): disassociation_lock -> mmap_lock

Fix by removing disassociation_lock entirely and using the pre-existing hw_destroy_rwsem instead. hw_destroy_rwsem already provides the same protection: rdma_umap_open() and ib_uverbs_mmap() both use down_read_trylock() before registering a new VMA, so holding hw_destroy_rwsem in uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate() is sufficient to block new registrations. trylock is used in both mmap paths (not blocking down_read) because mmap_lock is already held on entry, and uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate() acquires mmap_lock internally — a blocking read would recreate the same deadlock.

The only caller that was not taking hw_destroy_rwsem for write was rdma_user_mmap_disassociate(). Fix it to take the rwsem per-ufile while iterating under lists_mutex. This is safe because ib_uverbs_close() releases hw_destroy_rwsem entirely before acquiring lists_mutex, so the two locks are never held simultaneously.

lockdep warning:

[ 776.654252] ====================================================== [ 776.655214] WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected [ 776.656167] 6.18.0for-upstream_debug_94e244d9ccab #1 Not tainted [ 776.657114] ------------------------------------------------------ [ 776.658087] devlink/14824 is trying to acquire lock: [ 776.658879] ffff88811170c800 (&mm->mmap_lock){++++}-{4:4}, at: uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate+0x168/0x780 [ib_uverbs] [ 776.660479] [ 776.660479] but task is already holding lock: [ 776.661460] ffff888142d92b08 (&file->disassociation_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate+0x39/0x780 [ib_uverbs] [ 776.663177] [ 776.663177] which lock already depends on the new lock. [ 776.663177] [ 776.664525] [ 776.664525] the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is: [ 776.665724] [ 776.665724] -> #2 (&file->disassociation_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}: [ 776.666887] __mutex_lock+0x16d/0x2330 [ 776.667633] rdma_umap_open+0x129/0x280 [ib_uverbs] [ 776.668489] dup_mmap+0xa40/0x1790 [ 776.669170] copy_process+0x5dd2/0x6170 [ 776.669933] kernel_clone+0xb6/0x610 [ 776.670636] __do_sys_clone+0xb5/0xf0 [ 776.671354] do_syscall_64+0x70/0x12e0 [ 776.672083] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 [ 776.672940] [ 776.672940] -> #1 (&mm->mmap_lock/1){+.+.}-{4:4}: [ 776.673985] down_write_nested+0x90/0x1e0 [ 776.674751] dup_mmap+0x201/0x1790 [ 776.675448] copy_process+0x5dd2/0x6170 [ 776.676180] kernel_clone+0xb6/0x610 [ 776.676904] __do_sys_clone+0xb5/0xf0 [ 776.677615] do_syscall_64+0x70/0x12e0 [ 776.678351] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 [ 776.679239] [ 776.679239] -> #0 (&mm->mmap_lock){++++}-{4:4}: [ 776.680253] __lock_acquire+0x18c6/0x2ec0 [ 776.681018] lock_acquire+0x10e/0x2e0 [ 776.681742] down_read+0x95/0x430 [ 776.682395] uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate+0x168/0x780 [ib_uverbs] [ 776.683436] uverbs_destroy_ufile_hw+0x1ae/0x270 [ib_uverbs] [ 776.684416] ib_uverbs_remove_one+0x22b/0x420 [ib_uverbs] [ 776.685371] remove_client_context+0xa6/0xf0 [ib_core] [ 776.686342] disable_device+0x12b/0x240 [ib_core] [ 776.687249] __ib_unregister_device+0x269/0x460 [ib_core] [ 776.688233] ib_unregister_device+0x21/0x30 [ib_core] [ 776.689140] mlx5r_remove+0xd0/0x170 [mlx5_ib] [ 776.689999] device_release_driver_internal+0x3b2/0x5 ---truncated---

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.12, 6.13, 7.3
  • linux Debian 14 7.2.8-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98431

  • linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.17
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.18
  • linux-ibm Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
  • linux-riscv Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42.1
  • linux-oracle Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1015.16
  • linux-hwe-7.0 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
  • linux-oem-7.0 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98431

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-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 7.2.11-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:12165-1

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Vendor advisories

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red hat product security vex CVE-2026-98431 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: RDMA/uverbs: Fix mmap_lock/disassociation_lock circular dependency

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
    affected: workaround, no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-selftests-internal Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8
    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

Exploit prediction

0.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 9% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

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