CVE-2026-98820: blk-mq: set RQF_USE_SCHED when the operation is known

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: 2026-10-18 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: blk-mq: set RQF_USE_SCHED when the operation is known The cached requests are allocated for one operation but can be handed out for another. A passthrough command has RQF_USE_SCHED cleared, so using those flags for a subsequent read/write bio will insert it into the scheduler without ->prepare_request() and frees it without ->finish_request(). For kyber, this leaks the domain token acquired at dispatch and stalls the queue. Don't set RQF_USE_SCHED based on the first operation the batch happened to be allocated for. Instead, set it after the request is claimed by an operation. Introduce a helper function, blk_mq_rq_late_init() for this, and absorb blk_mq_rq_time_init() since the two run together.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 6.1 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

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

References

Get alerted when CVE-2026-98820 or the next vulnerability affects your stack