HIGH Introduced in 5.9
io_uring WorkQueue UAF
CVE-2026-46274
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI8.4HIGH
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io-wq: check that the predecessor is hashed in io_wq_remove_pending() io_wq_remove_pending() needs to fix up wq->hash_tail[] if the cancelled work was the tail of its hash bucket. When doing this, it checks whether the preceding entry in acct->work_list has the same hash value, but never checks that the predecessor is hashed at all. io_get_work_hash() is simply atomic_read(&work->flags) >> IO_WQ_HASH_SHIFT, and the hash bits are never set for non-hashed work, so it returns 0. Thus, when a hashed bucket-0 work is cancelled while a non-hashed work is its list predecessor, the check spuriously passes and a pointer to the non-hashed io_kiocb is stored in wq->hash_tail[0]. Because non-hashed work is dequeued via the fast path in io_get_next_work(), which never touches hash_tail[], the stale pointer is never cleared. Therefore, after the non-hashed io_kiocb completes and is freed back to req_cachep, wq->hash_tail[0] is a dangling pointer. The io_wq is per-task (tctx->io_wq) and survives ring open/close, so the dangling pointer persists for the lifetime of the task; the next hashed bucket-0 enqueue dereferences it in io_wq_insert_work() and wq_list_add_after() writes through freed memory. Add the missing io_wq_is_hashed() check so a non-hashed predecessor never inherits a hash_tail[] slot.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
Local attackers can trigger a use-after-free in the io_uring work queue management, leading to potential arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability affects systems where untrusted or unprivileged local processes can submit io_uring operations.
Vulnerability analysis
The root cause is in io_wq_remove_pending() which fails to verify that a predecessor work item is actually hashed before using it to update hash_tail pointers. When a hashed work item with hash value 0 is cancelled while a non-hashed work item is its list predecessor, the function incorrectly stores a pointer to the non-hashed io_kiocb in wq->hash_tail[0]. Since non-hashed work bypasses hash_tail cleanup via the fast path, this creates a dangling pointer that persists for the lifetime of the task. The next hashed bucket-0 enqueue dereferences the freed object and writes through freed memory. The fix adds the missing io_wq_is_hashed() check to ensure only hashed predecessors can inherit hash_tail slots.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.12 | 5.9 | 6.12.91 | 252c5051dba9 |
| mainline | 5.9 | 7.1 | — |
| 6.6 | 5.9 | 6.6.141 | 5a20ebf0c81b |
| 6.18 | 5.9 | 6.18.33 | d376c131af7c |
| 5.8 | 5.8.6 | 5.9 | d6bda9df0c0a |
| 7.0 | 5.9 | 7.0.10 | d6a2d7b04b5a |