VulnerabilityPublished 18 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-98521: Linux kernel · drm/i915: fix incorrect RCU teardown order

Source GCVE Database

Authoritative record:CVE-2026-98521· Medium

Not known to be exploited · fixed in d2da6696e0c4e60414706e607029d0bb0330c67e : update Linux kernel when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

Severity

Medium

Rated by Threat Radar · CVSS not yet scored by NVD

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 11% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in d2da6696e0c4e60414706e607029d0bb0330c67e, cc890d3f1b15bf6481dc7270fba0b4fbba572813, c53db9cc245219af6b528ca022a17ebfa91d80ba +3

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-7hvf-3rfm-fg86

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 912ff2ebd695c582ca4cebf833ad73a378a99f23, < d2da6696e0c4e60414706e607029d0bb0330c67e	Fixed in d2da6696e0c4e60414706e607029d0bb0330c67e
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 912ff2ebd695c582ca4cebf833ad73a378a99f23, < cc890d3f1b15bf6481dc7270fba0b4fbba572813	Fixed in cc890d3f1b15bf6481dc7270fba0b4fbba572813
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 912ff2ebd695c582ca4cebf833ad73a378a99f23, < c53db9cc245219af6b528ca022a17ebfa91d80ba	Fixed in c53db9cc245219af6b528ca022a17ebfa91d80ba
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 912ff2ebd695c582ca4cebf833ad73a378a99f23, < b12e041aedcf9fa77c6002a49f07eb20d0521b86	Fixed in b12e041aedcf9fa77c6002a49f07eb20d0521b86
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 912ff2ebd695c582ca4cebf833ad73a378a99f23, < 4d4ca84213327da1f84ef7af3946dea6b14c5d88	Fixed in 4d4ca84213327da1f84ef7af3946dea6b14c5d88
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ 912ff2ebd695c582ca4cebf833ad73a378a99f23, < 2dd0190e397ec6468095fd3e80e79276a7361449	Fixed in 2dd0190e397ec6468095fd3e80e79276a7361449

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AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to address this issue by deferring the dropping of fence references until after the RCU grace period. Users should apply the official kernel updates that include this patch to remediate the vulnerability. Since this is a kernel-level fix, upgrading to the patched kernel version is the recommended mitigation.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's drm/i915 component related to incorrect RCU teardown order has been resolved. The issue involves the i915_gem_busy_ioctl function iterating over fences in a GEM object without holding a proper reference, only the RCU read side lock. This can cause an endless loop if the GEM object is destroyed concurrently, as the iteration never finishes when encountering a destroyed dma_fence. The fix involves dropping fence references only after the RCU grace period.

Impact

The vulnerability can cause the i915_gem_busy_ioctl function to enter an endless loop when a GEM object is destroyed concurrently during fence iteration. This does not free the GEM object's memory but drops all dma_fence references improperly, potentially leading to a denial of service condition due to the infinite loop. There is no indication of memory corruption or privilege escalation from the provided data.

References

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