CVE-2026-93240

memcg: make the v1 soft limit knob inert

Published Sep 24, 2026 CVSS n/a EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

memcg: make the v1 soft limit knob inert

The v1 soft limit has been deprecated since v6.12 and nobody has reported
depending on it. Start the removal by decoupling the interface from the
implementation: keep memory.soft_limit_in_bytes, but ignore writes to it
and always report the maximum value on read similar to what
memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes already does.

Writes are still parsed, so malformed input keeps returning -EINVAL. The
knob now also behaves the same everywhere: it used to return -EOPNOTSUPP
on PREEMPT_RT, where soft limit reclaim has always been disabled.

This also fixes the syzbot report linked below. Soft limit reclaim is the
only caller that runs shrink_lruvec() from kswapd against a specific
memcg, so it is the only way to reach lru_gen_shrink_lruvec() and in turn
set_mm_walk(), which warns when called from kswapd.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4817-1 linux-6.12 security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6528-1 linux security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9019-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9020-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9022-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9023-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9024-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9025-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9026-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9039-1 Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9040-1 Linux kernel (Low Latency NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9066-1 Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9091-1 Linux kernel (NVIDIA Tegra) vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-20
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: memcg: make the v1 soft limit knob inert The v1 soft limit has been deprecated since v6.12 and nobody has reported depending on it. Start the removal by decoupling the interface from the implementation: keep memory.soft_limit_in_bytes, but ignore writes to it and always report the maximum value on read similar to what memory.kmem.limit_in_bytes already does. Writes are still parsed, so malformed input keeps returning -EINVAL. The knob now also behaves the same everywhere: it used to return -EOPNOTSUPP on PREEMPT_RT, where soft limit reclaim has always been disabled. This also fixes the syzbot report linked below. Soft limit reclaim is the only caller that runs shrink_lruvec() from kswapd against a specific memcg, so it is the only way to reach lru_gen_shrink_lruvec() and in turn set_mm_walk(), which warns when called from kswapd.
Title memcg: make the v1 soft limit knob inert
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 21, 2026, 12:52 PM
Reserved
Sep 17, 2026, 4:02 PM
Status
Received
Published
Sep 24, 2026, 4:17 PM
Modified
Oct 21, 2026, 1:21 PM