CVE-2026-23107

Published Feb 4, 2026

Last updated 7 months ago

Overview

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: arm64/fpsimd: signal: Allocate SSVE storage when restoring ZA The code to restore a ZA context doesn't attempt to allocate the task's sve_state before setting TIF_SME. Consequently, restoring a ZA context can place a task into an invalid state where TIF_SME is set but the task's sve_state is NULL. In legitimate but uncommon cases where the ZA signal context was NOT created by the kernel in the context of the same task (e.g. if the task is saved/restored with something like CRIU), we have no guarantee that sve_state had been allocated previously. In these cases, userspace can enter streaming mode without trapping while sve_state is NULL, causing a later NULL pointer dereference when the kernel attempts to store the register state: | # ./sigreturn-za | Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000000 | Mem abort info: | ESR = 0x0000000096000046 | EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits | SET = 0, FnV = 0 | EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 | FSC = 0x06: level 2 translation fault | Data abort info: | ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000046, ISS2 = 0x00000000 | CM = 0, WnR = 1, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 | GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 | user pgtable: 4k pages, 52-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000101f47c00 | [0000000000000000] pgd=08000001021d8403, p4d=0800000102274403, pud=0800000102275403, pmd=0000000000000000 | Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000046 [#1] SMP | Modules linked in: | CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 153 Comm: sigreturn-za Not tainted 6.19.0-rc1 #1 PREEMPT | Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) | pstate: 214000c9 (nzCv daIF +PAN -UAO -TCO +DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) | pc : sve_save_state+0x4/0xf0 | lr : fpsimd_save_user_state+0xb0/0x1c0 | sp : ffff80008070bcc0 | x29: ffff80008070bcc0 x28: fff00000c1ca4c40 x27: 63cfa172fb5cf658 | x26: fff00000c1ca5228 x25: 0000000000000000 x24: 0000000000000000 | x23: 0000000000000000 x22: fff00000c1ca4c40 x21: fff00000c1ca4c40 | x20: 0000000000000020 x19: fff00000ff6900f0 x18: 0000000000000000 | x17: fff05e8e0311f000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 028fca8f3bdaf21c | x14: 0000000000000212 x13: fff00000c0209f10 x12: 0000000000000020 | x11: 0000000000200b20 x10: 0000000000000000 x9 : fff00000ff69dcc0 | x8 : 00000000000003f2 x7 : 0000000000000001 x6 : fff00000c1ca5b48 | x5 : fff05e8e0311f000 x4 : 0000000008000000 x3 : 0000000000000000 | x2 : 0000000000000001 x1 : fff00000c1ca5970 x0 : 0000000000000440 | Call trace: | sve_save_state+0x4/0xf0 (P) | fpsimd_thread_switch+0x48/0x198 | __switch_to+0x20/0x1c0 | __schedule+0x36c/0xce0 | schedule+0x34/0x11c | exit_to_user_mode_loop+0x124/0x188 | el0_interrupt+0xc8/0xd8 | __el0_irq_handler_common+0x18/0x24 | el0t_64_irq_handler+0x10/0x1c | el0t_64_irq+0x198/0x19c | Code: 54000040 d51b4408 d65f03c0 d503245f (e5bb5800) | ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Fix this by having restore_za_context() ensure that the task's sve_state is allocated, matching what we do when taking an SME trap. Any live SVE/SSVE state (which is restored earlier from a separate signal context) must be preserved, and hence this is not zeroed.
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status
Analyzed
Products
linux_kernel

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
5.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
1.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
MEDIUM

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
CWE-476

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations

  1. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup: Avoid iteration of dying tasks with zero refcount The commit 260fbcb92bbea ("cgroup: Move dying_tasks cleanup from cgroup_task_release() to cgroup_task_free()") extended the lifetime of tasks on the dying_tasks list. The iterators have provision to go through dying_tasks because of dying threadgroup leaders or explicit CSS_TASK_ITER_WITH_DEAD, however, it was expected that such tasks can obtain a new reference (that is possible before cgroup_task_release()/put_task_struct_rcu_user()). The tasks after cgroup_task_release() and before cgroup_task_free() are subject to race when they may or may not have ->usage count > 0. The race window is between css_task_iter_next() invocations when css_set_lock is released and we may arrive at a new ->task_pos. The iterator should not attempt to resurrect tasks whose ->usage count dropped to zero. (When that happens, __put_task_struct_rcu_cb() is already imminent and the returned task_struct would could be used after free.) As for the fix, we cannot simply check the signal->live count of a task on the dying list because that won't distinguish regular zombies waiting to be reaped from RCU remnant tasks that are going to be free'd. Therefore add an extra check to rule out ->usage==0 tasks from any iteration. The repeat: loop in css_task_iter_advance() doesn't consider ->usage count, so add a new loop to css_task_iter_next() to skip de-used tasks on the dying_list. Rough illustration of the possible race R (reader of cgroup.procs) T (thread) L (group leader) --------------------------------- -------------------------------- -------------------------------- L exits, signal->live > 0 cgroup_task_dead(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // skips only cset->tasks list_add_tail(&L->cg_list, &cset->dying_tasks) css_task_iter_next() take css_set_lock css_task_iter_advance() leader && signal->live != 0 => it->task_pos = &L->cg_list release css_set_lock T exits --signal->live == 0 cgroup_task_dead(T) // css_set_lock release_task(T) cgroup_task_release(T) release_task(L) // zap_leader cgroup_task_release(L) put_task_struct_rcu_user(L) ...RCU... put_task_struct(L) L->usage = 0 /* L still on dying_tasks */ ...RCU... __put_task_struct(L) css_task_iter_next() // another iteration take css_set_lock it->task_pos = &L->cg_list get_task_struct(L) => addition on 0 drop css_set_lock cgroup_task_free(L) css_set_skip_task_iters() // dying skip comes too late free_task(L) cgroup_procs_show() task_pid_vnr(L)•CVE-2026-98163