HIGH Introduced in 7.1
memcg FolioMigration Race
CVE-2026-89985
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI7.0HIGH
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: memcg: keep folio's objcg same as its node memcg_reparent_objcgs() has an inherent assumption that a folio's objcg is the objcg of the folio's node. Folio migration across nodes breaks that assumption: the new folio simply inherits the old folio's objcg while living on a different node. Once the assumption is broken, the reparenting of the folio's objcg and the reparenting of the folio's LRU list are no longer atomic. memcg_reparent_objcgs() handles one node per iteration and drops all the locks in between, so the objcg gets reparented in the iteration for the objcg's node while the LRU list gets spliced in the iteration for the folio's node. Any LRU operation on that folio in between resolves its lruvec through the objcg, and thus takes the lru_lock of the wrong memcg, not the lru_lock of the list the folio is actually on. Fix this by selecting the objcg by folio_nid() at charge time, and by re-deriving it for the destination node in mem_cgroup_migrate() and mem_cgroup_replace_folio().
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A race condition in the kernel's memory cgroup subsystem allows a local unprivileged user to corrupt kernel memory by triggering folio migration across NUMA nodes while a memory cgroup is being torn down. The resulting lock mismatch can lead to kernel memory corruption, potentially causing privilege escalation or system crashes. Systems with NUMA hardware and active memory cgroup usage (including container hosts and multi-tenant environments) are most at risk.
Vulnerability analysis
When a folio migrates across NUMA nodes, the kernel copies the old folio's object cgroup pointer to the new folio without adjusting it for the destination node. This breaks an invariant that a folio's object cgroup must match its node. During memory cgroup teardown, the kernel reparents each node's object cgroup and LRU lists in separate lock sections; a folio whose object cgroup belongs to a different node than its LRU list can have its list membership and lock resolution change in different critical sections. An LRU operation landing in that window takes the wrong memcg lock, modifying lists without proper synchronization and corrupting kernel memory. The fix re-derives the object cgroup for the destination node at migration time, ensuring the folio always holds the object cgroup corresponding to its actual node. Any local unprivileged user on a NUMA system with memory cgroups can trigger page migration via standard syscalls, and the race fires when a cgroup is concurrently destroyed.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.2 | 7.1 | 7.2.5 | 6165478eaa30 |
| mainline | 7.1 | 7.3-rc1 | bf4ade7dbd76 |