CVE-2026-98268 (GCVE-0-2026-98268)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-10-06 08:45
Modified
2026-10-19 09:16
Severity ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf: Fix null pointer access in is_include_guest_event() A typical module unload occurring event when there is an active perf connection leads to freeing of the pmu pointer. The call log is something like: .. __pmu_detach_event pmu_detach_event pmu_detach_events perf_pmu_unregister .. __pmu_detach_event() sets event->pmu to null. When the perf connection finally is closed, the following stack trace is observed: Oops: general protection fault, kernel NULL pointer dereference ... RIP: 0010:_free_event+0x3e/0x370 ... Call Trace: ... perf_event_release_kernel+0x260/0x2d0 perf_release+0x12/0x20 A call to mediated_pmu_unaccount_event() inside _free_event() is the root cause of this crash. Adding a check inside is_include_guest_event() ensures we don't accidentally access a null pmu ptr. In addition to this, we will now call mediated_pmu_unaccount_event() before clearing the pmu ptr so that nr_include_guest_events counts are maintained correctly.
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
Linux Linux Version: eff95e170275d9e80b968f335cd03d0ac250d2d1
Version: eff95e170275d9e80b968f335cd03d0ac250d2d1
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{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "kernel/events/core.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "7fa9a465ae8f07c0e4685db6edb6a6f984dbd784",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "eff95e170275d9e80b968f335cd03d0ac250d2d1",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "88aed0422f39b22406f35f1e758cea25e7bbcfb5",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "eff95e170275d9e80b968f335cd03d0ac250d2d1",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "kernel/events/core.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "7.0"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "7.0",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.8",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.2.8",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "7.0",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.3",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "7.0",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nperf: Fix null pointer access in is_include_guest_event()\n\nA typical module unload occurring event when there is an active perf\nconnection leads to freeing of the pmu pointer. The call log is something\nlike:\n ..\n __pmu_detach_event\n pmu_detach_event\n pmu_detach_events\n perf_pmu_unregister\n ..\n\n__pmu_detach_event() sets event-\u003epmu to null. When the perf connection\nfinally is closed, the following stack trace is observed:\n\n Oops: general protection fault, kernel NULL pointer dereference\n ...\n RIP: 0010:_free_event+0x3e/0x370\n ...\n Call Trace:\n ...\n perf_event_release_kernel+0x260/0x2d0\n perf_release+0x12/0x20\n\nA call to mediated_pmu_unaccount_event() inside _free_event() is the root\ncause of this crash. Adding a check inside is_include_guest_event() ensures\nwe don\u0027t accidentally access a null pmu ptr. In addition to this, we will\nnow call mediated_pmu_unaccount_event() before clearing the pmu ptr so that\nnr_include_guest_events counts are maintained correctly."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T09:16:39.095Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7fa9a465ae8f07c0e4685db6edb6a6f984dbd784"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/88aed0422f39b22406f35f1e758cea25e7bbcfb5"
        }
      ],
      "title": "perf: Fix null pointer access in is_include_guest_event()",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-98268",
    "datePublished": "2026-10-06T08:45:30.917Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.333Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-19T09:16:39.095Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


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