CVE-2026-98258

CVE-2026-98258 · posix-cpu-timers: Prevent freeing a timer which is queued on the expiry list

This page contains facts from public vulnerability sources. Check the original advisory before updating.

This page shows selected source facts. See the linked advisories for the complete description and affected versions.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: posix-cpu-timers: Prevent freeing a timer which is queued on the expiry list Kijo analyzed another race in the POSIX CPU timer code: Commit bf635681c906 converted cpu_timer::firing from a tristate value to a boolean. This lost the distinction between "not owned by the firing list" and "still owned, but delivery was canceled". The resulting race is: expiry handler timer_settime() timer_delete() -------------- --------------- -------------- collect timer onto private firing list firing = true observes firing = true firing = false return TIMER_RETRY wait for handler observes firing = false finish deletion unhash and free timer resume list traversal read freed elist.next -> UAF The firing bit is clearly the wrong indicator since that commit. Check whether the timer is queued on the expiry list or not instead. If it is queued clear the firing bit to prevent signal delivery as before and return TIMER_RETRY so the caller unlocks the timer which allows the expiry code to make progress and remove it from the list.

CVSS 7.8 · High · EPSS 0.1% · Fix available

Published

2026-10-06T08:45:23.379Z

Updated

2026-10-19T09:16:29.418Z

Stack: system

Check your server →