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CVE-2026-89972: nvme: add missing SRCU grace period in error path

• Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-09-16 · updated 2026-10-30

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvme: add missing SRCU grace period in error path nvme_alloc_ns() error path at out_unlink_ns removes ns from the namespace head siblings list with list_del_rcu(&ns->siblings) but does not wait for SRCU readers before freeing the namespace struct. Multipath code iterates the head->list under srcu_read_lock() in nvme_find_path() and nvme_mpath_revalidate_paths(), so a concurrent reader can still hold a reference to ns when kfree(ns) runs. The normal removal path in nvme_ns_remove() correctly calls synchronize_srcu(&ns->head->srcu) after list_del_rcu() to wait for in-progress readers. Add the same grace period in the error path.

Affected products

• Linux: 4.15 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/037e71058e8a59568db72015d4386f54e54dff77
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d4735418512ef825176726eaaa8bd6a35f6b46d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3868476cd39161f18720582df17a1b621e805b5d
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76023560d60f10b4f808941163aa2975f1631683
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f180cef9f3421ece85c43bfdc326ce5875845bb
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d663944dbad81bb0e3635d7090db4713e6300858
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da710ec2a70a85de73afd4f7869b234fd9ede49e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ef248d5de4469fb6bbaf8dbe0c4c47800080d648

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