CVE-2026-52991sched/psi: fix race between file release and pressure write

Description

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---

Timeline

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.15% · top 96% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.8.

Affected products

• Linux · Linux

  • affected 0e94682b73bfa6c44c98af7a26771c9c08c055d5 – < 58e6ca11e45c9d6e52255d1135e7dbff0a360334
  • affected 0e94682b73bfa6c44c98af7a26771c9c08c055d5 – < d8ddbc3330fa6851c56b046e630a8fc64830a0ce
  • affected 0e94682b73bfa6c44c98af7a26771c9c08c055d5 – < af0638534bfae7980582c6482531a0872f8ee341
  • affected 0e94682b73bfa6c44c98af7a26771c9c08c055d5 – < 03dc070fa0fc3cb4068693f468ccd5f8a7e58282
  • affected 0e94682b73bfa6c44c98af7a26771c9c08c055d5 – < d4352c0709bfd38c752fccbde7fd72a82ac78f23
  • affected 0e94682b73bfa6c44c98af7a26771c9c08c055d5 – < a5b98009f16d8a5fb4a8ff9a193f5735515c38fa

• Linux · Linux

  • affected 5.2
  • unaffected < 5.2
  • unaffected 6.1.191 – ≤ 6.1.*
  • unaffected 6.6.160 – ≤ 6.6.*
  • unaffected 6.12.114 – ≤ 6.12.*
  • unaffected 6.18.33 – ≤ 6.18.*
  • unaffected 7.0.10 – ≤ 7.0.*
  • unaffected 7.1 – ≤ *

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• EUVD EUVD-2026-38859 (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2026-52991](https://cveledger.app/badge/CVE-2026-52991.svg)](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-52991)

Record last updated 30 Oct 2026, 12:26 UTC.