HIGH Introduced in 2.6.37
rds ConnShutdown Race
CVE-2026-98069
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI8.1HIGH
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/rds: acquire the fastpath locks in rds_conn_shutdown() rds_conn_shutdown() quiesces the transmit and receive-refill paths by waiting for RDS_IN_XMIT and RDS_RECV_REFILL to be sampled clear, and then runs the transport shutdown and rds_conn_path_reset(). Sampling the bits clear is not the same as owning them: the moment after the wait_event() returns, rds_send_xmit() can re-acquire RDS_IN_XMIT (or rds_ib_recv_refill() can re-acquire RDS_RECV_REFILL) and run concurrently with the teardown. The sender does recheck the connection state after taking the lock, but that recheck is a classic store-buffering pattern: teardown writes the state and reads the bit while the sender writes the bit and reads the state. acquire_in_xmit() is only an acquire operation, so on weakly ordered architectures both sides can miss each other's write, and the transmit path then runs while the transport zeroes its rings (e.g. rds_ib_ring_init()) and rds_send_path_reset() rewrites the transmit state under it. Oracle UEK fixed the same class of crashes - a 14-year tail of BUG_ON()s in rds_ib_sub_signaled(), unexpected op-codes and NULL dereferences in rds_ib_send_cqe_handler() during failover testing - by making the teardown path *acquire* the fastpath bit locks instead of testing them ("rds: Make sure transmit path and connection tear-down does not run concurrently"). Ownership of a single word is decided by RMW atomicity, so no cross-variable ordering is needed. Do the same here: take both locks before calling the transport shutdown, hold them across rds_conn_path_reset(), and release them explicitly with a wake-up afterwards. Both are released with clear_bit_unlock(), so that the ring re-initialization done by the transport shutdown and the transmit state rewritten by rds_send_path_reset() are ordered before either bit is seen clear by the next acquire_in_xmit() or acquire_refill(). The fastpath users of these bits - rds_send_xmit() and rds_ib_recv_refill() - are trylock style and back off while teardown owns the locks, so no new lock dependency is introduced for them. rds_tcp_reset_callbacks() is different: since the previous patch it acquires RDS_IN_XMIT as well, and it blocks doing so, so its wait now spans the teardown instead of at most one send batch. That waiter runs from rds_tcp_accept_one() on the single-threaded krdsd workqueue and holds rds_tcp_accept_lock and t_conn_path_lock while it waits, so a duelling SYN accepted while its path is being torn down parks accept processing for the duration of the teardown - for TCP bounded by the (up to 5 s) drain loop in rds_tcp_conn_path_shutdown(). An IB path's drain in rds_ib_conn_path_shutdown() has no round cap, but no blocking waiter either: rds_tcp_reset_callbacks() is the only blocking acquirer of these bits and waits only on its own TCP path, and the fastpaths are trylock-and-back-off on both transports, so a long IB drain lengthens only that path's own quiesce. The window is narrow: the accept-side state check has to pass before the teardown moves the path to RDS_CONN_DISCONNECTING. Because krdsd is a single global workqueue, everything else queued there - accept processing for other connections and network namespaces, and the flush_workqueue(rds_wq) in rds_tcp_listen_stop() during namespace teardown - waits behind the parked accept worker for that time. It cannot deadlock, although the waits do point at each other: the teardown blocks until the bit's holder releases it, and the holder may be that krdsd accept worker. The holder finishes without needing anything the teardown owns: the sync cancels rds_tcp_reset_callbacks() issues target cp_send_w and cp_recv_w on the path's ordered cp_wq, whose only execution slot is occupied by the blocked cp_down_w itself, so they are pending at most and cancel without flushing - a reliance on cp_wq being ordered that is now noted next to those cancels (on ---truncated---
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
A race condition in the RDS protocol's connection shutdown path allows the transmit and receive-refill paths to run concurrently with teardown, leading to memory corruption, NULL dereferences, and kernel panics. Any remote peer who can reach an exposed RDS TCP port can trigger the race by causing a connection teardown while the local system is actively sending, and a local unprivileged user can trigger it by creating RDS sockets. Systems running the RDS protocol (commonly Oracle RAC and HPC clusters) are at risk; systems without RDS compiled in or active are unaffected.
Vulnerability analysis
The RDS connection shutdown path checks whether the send and receive-refill paths are idle by watching status flags, but seeing a flag clear does not stop those paths from starting again immediately afterward. Because of this, either path can restart while the connection is being torn down. On weakly ordered hardware, the sender's double-check of the connection state can race with the teardown's state change so that both sides proceed, allowing the transmit path to keep running while the transport reinitializes its ring buffers and resets transmit state underneath it. This overlap corrupts memory and causes kernel crashes such as NULL dereferences and internal errors. The fix changes the teardown path to acquire the send and receive locks instead of merely watching the flags, hold those locks during the entire shutdown and reset, and release them only after the reinitialization is finished. The bug is in the RDS networking code and can be reached by a remote peer that can talk to an exposed RDS port, or by a local user who can open RDS sockets.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.10 | 2.6.37 | 5.10.271 | 7f4f21e4439d |
| 5.15 | 2.6.37 | 5.15.222 | 1f900f585cbb |
| 6.1 | 2.6.37 | 6.1.189 | 32e21bcf4b5b |
| 6.6 | 2.6.37 | 6.6.158 | 2e46248e375a |
| 6.12 | 2.6.37 | 6.12.111 | 7febb113795d |
| 6.18 | 2.6.37 | 6.18.53 | 900e96c9749a |
| 7.2 | 2.6.37 | 7.2.7 | 1fe627e5db5c |
| mainline | 2.6.37 | 7.3-rc2 | 813f3582ac7a |
| cip/6.12 | 2.6.37 | 6.12.111-cip32 | 7febb113795d |