CVE-2026-90277: md/md-llbitmap: prevent create failure bitmap UAF

Severity: unknown
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-09-17 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: md/md-llbitmap: prevent create failure bitmap UAF llbitmap_create() publishes mddev->bitmap before reading the bitmap superblock. This is needed because llbitmap_read_sb() can initialize a new bitmap and flush it through helpers that use mddev->bitmap. If llbitmap_read_sb() fails, the old cleanup dropped bitmap_info.mutex and freed llbitmap before clearing mddev->bitmap. Readers such as /proc/mdstat rely on bitmap_info.mutex to keep the bitmap pointer stable while collecting bitmap stats, so they could observe the stale pointer after the failed create path released the mutex. Clear mddev->bitmap while still holding bitmap_info.mutex, then free the failed llbitmap after dropping the mutex. This makes mutex-protected readers see either a live bitmap or no bitmap.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 6.18 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

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

References

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