CVE-2026-43388

NameCVE-2026-43388
DescriptionIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/damon/core: clear walk_control on inactive context in damos_walk() damos_walk() sets ctx->walk_control to the caller-provided control structure before checking whether the context is running. If the context is inactive (damon_is_running() returns false), the function returns -EINVAL without clearing ctx->walk_control. This leaves a dangling pointer to a stack-allocated structure that will be freed when the caller returns. This is structurally identical to the bug fixed in commit f9132fbc2e83 ("mm/damon/core: remove call_control in inactive contexts") for damon_call(), which had the same pattern of linking a control object and returning an error without unlinking it. The dangling walk_control pointer can cause: 1. Use-after-free if the context is later started and kdamond    dereferences ctx->walk_control (e.g., in damos_walk_cancel()    which writes to control->canceled and calls complete()) 2. Permanent -EBUSY from subsequent damos_walk() calls, since the    stale pointer is non-NULL Nonetheless, the real user impact is quite restrictive. The use-after-free is impossible because there is no damos_walk() callers who starts the context later. The permanent -EBUSY can actually confuse users, as DAMON is not running. But the symptom is kept only while the context is turned off. Turning it on again will make DAMON internally uses a newly generated damon_ctx object that doesn't have the invalid damos_walk_control pointer, so everything will work fine again. Fix this by clearing ctx->walk_control under walk_control_lock before returning -EINVAL, mirroring the fix pattern from f9132fbc2e83.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
linux (PTS)bullseye5.10.223-1fixed
bullseye (security)5.10.251-4fixed
bookworm6.1.159-1fixed
bookworm (security)6.1.170-1fixed
trixie6.12.73-1fixed
trixie (security)6.12.86-1fixed
forky6.19.14-1fixed
sid7.0.4-1fixed

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
linuxsourcebullseye(not affected)
linuxsourcebookworm(not affected)
linuxsourcetrixie(not affected)
linuxsource(unstable)6.19.10-1

Notes

[trixie] - linux <not-affected> (Vulnerable code not present)
[bookworm] - linux <not-affected> (Vulnerable code not present)
[bullseye] - linux <not-affected> (Vulnerable code not present)
https://git.kernel.org/linus/d210fdcac9c0d1380eab448aebc93f602c1cd4e6 (7.0-rc4)

Search for package or bug name: Reporting problems