CVE-2026-80916
kcov: fix data corruption and race conditions on PREEMPT_RT
Published Sep 9, 2026
CVSS n/a
EPSS < 1%
KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
kcov: fix data corruption and race conditions on PREEMPT_RT
syzbot is reporting KCOV state corruption on PREEMPT_RT kernels, for the
temporary storage used for saving/restoring remote KCOV state is currently
allocated as the per-CPU area.
On PREEMPT_RT kernels, softirq handlers run as preemptible task threads
(e.g., ksoftirqd). If a softirq context preempts a task running a remote
KCOV session, it safely saves the task's state into the per-CPU area.
However, if that softirq thread is subsequently preempted by a higher-
priority softirq thread on the same CPU, the second softirq will overwrite
the same per-CPU area, permanently destroying the original task's KCOV
state.
Fix this data corruption by moving the temporary storage from the per-CPU
area to the per-thread area. Since each softirq thread now owns its own
task context, nested softirq preemption no longer causes data overwrites.
Note that while the temporary storage is now on a per-thread basis, the
per-CPU kcov_percpu_data.lock must be retained, for we need to ensure that
kcov_remote_start() and kcov_remote_stop() operate atomically without
racing against asynchronous interrupts that manipulate the current task's
KCOV state.
It is likely that GFP_KERNEL allocation by vmalloc_node() in kcov_init()
has already called panic() before returning NULL, for there will be no
OOM-killable userspace processes when __init function of built-in module
runs. But this patch also fixes crashing the kernel when vmalloc_node()
in kcov_init() returned NULL, for kcov_init() left per-CPU irq_area == NULL
but kcov_remote_start() depends on per-CPU irq_area != NULL, resulting in
(1) doing vmalloc() in kcov_remote_start() despite !in_task() context
(2) out-of-array-bounds access if (1) succeeded but
kcov->remote_size < CONFIG_KCOV_IRQ_AREA_SIZE
(3) always leak memory allocated by (1), eventually killing all
OOM-killable userspace processes
problems.
kcov: fix data corruption and race conditions on PREEMPT_RT
syzbot is reporting KCOV state corruption on PREEMPT_RT kernels, for the
temporary storage used for saving/restoring remote KCOV state is currently
allocated as the per-CPU area.
On PREEMPT_RT kernels, softirq handlers run as preemptible task threads
(e.g., ksoftirqd). If a softirq context preempts a task running a remote
KCOV session, it safely saves the task's state into the per-CPU area.
However, if that softirq thread is subsequently preempted by a higher-
priority softirq thread on the same CPU, the second softirq will overwrite
the same per-CPU area, permanently destroying the original task's KCOV
state.
Fix this data corruption by moving the temporary storage from the per-CPU
area to the per-thread area. Since each softirq thread now owns its own
task context, nested softirq preemption no longer causes data overwrites.
Note that while the temporary storage is now on a per-thread basis, the
per-CPU kcov_percpu_data.lock must be retained, for we need to ensure that
kcov_remote_start() and kcov_remote_stop() operate atomically without
racing against asynchronous interrupts that manipulate the current task's
KCOV state.
It is likely that GFP_KERNEL allocation by vmalloc_node() in kcov_init()
has already called panic() before returning NULL, for there will be no
OOM-killable userspace processes when __init function of built-in module
runs. But this patch also fixes crashing the kernel when vmalloc_node()
in kcov_init() returned NULL, for kcov_init() left per-CPU irq_area == NULL
but kcov_remote_start() depends on per-CPU irq_area != NULL, resulting in
(1) doing vmalloc() in kcov_remote_start() despite !in_task() context
(2) out-of-array-bounds access if (1) succeeded but
kcov->remote_size < CONFIG_KCOV_IRQ_AREA_SIZE
(3) always leak memory allocated by (1), eventually killing all
OOM-killable userspace processes
problems.
Affected Products
-
CVE record
-
NVD configurations
No data
-
Red Hat packages
No data
-
OpenCVE enrichment
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
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| Linux | Linux | affected |
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No data.
No data.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux Kernel |
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| Linux | Linux Kernel |
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Remediation
Tracking
Advisories
| Source | ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
 Debian DLA |
DLA-4788-1 | linux-6.12 security update |
 Ubuntu USN |
USN-8961-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9019-1 | Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9020-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9022-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9023-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9024-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9025-1 | Linux kernel vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9026-1 | Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9029-1 | Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9039-1 | Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9040-1 | Linux kernel (Low Latency NVIDIA) vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9066-1 | Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities |
| Ubuntu USN |
USN-9091-1 | Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities |
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0
No CVSS v3.1
No CVSS v3.0
No CVSS v2
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
Exploit prediction score: < 1% (0.182% probability within 30 days)
Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.
References
History
Sep 9, 2026 6:15 PM
Weaknesses updated
View changes
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Weaknesses | CWE-362 |
Sep 9, 2026 4:30 PM
Description updated. Title updated. First appearance in the feed. Affected versions updated. Affected vendors updated. Added references
View changes
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kcov: fix data corruption and race conditions on PREEMPT_RT syzbot is reporting KCOV state corruption on PREEMPT_RT kernels, for the temporary storage used for saving/restoring remote KCOV state is currently allocated as the per-CPU area. On PREEMPT_RT kernels, softirq handlers run as preemptible task threads (e.g., ksoftirqd). If a softirq context preempts a task running a remote KCOV session, it safely saves the task's state into the per-CPU area. However, if that softirq thread is subsequently preempted by a higher- priority softirq thread on the same CPU, the second softirq will overwrite the same per-CPU area, permanently destroying the original task's KCOV state. Fix this data corruption by moving the temporary storage from the per-CPU area to the per-thread area. Since each softirq thread now owns its own task context, nested softirq preemption no longer causes data overwrites. Note that while the temporary storage is now on a per-thread basis, the per-CPU kcov_percpu_data.lock must be retained, for we need to ensure that kcov_remote_start() and kcov_remote_stop() operate atomically without racing against asynchronous interrupts that manipulate the current task's KCOV state. It is likely that GFP_KERNEL allocation by vmalloc_node() in kcov_init() has already called panic() before returning NULL, for there will be no OOM-killable userspace processes when __init function of built-in module runs. But this patch also fixes crashing the kernel when vmalloc_node() in kcov_init() returned NULL, for kcov_init() left per-CPU irq_area == NULL but kcov_remote_start() depends on per-CPU irq_area != NULL, resulting in (1) doing vmalloc() in kcov_remote_start() despite !in_task() context (2) out-of-array-bounds access if (1) succeeded but kcov->remote_size < CONFIG_KCOV_IRQ_AREA_SIZE (3) always leak memory allocated by (1), eventually killing all OOM-killable userspace processes problems. | |
| Title | kcov: fix data corruption and race conditions on PREEMPT_RT | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
|
Subscriptions
Weaknesses
