In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
drm/virtio: fix memory leak of fence event on execbuffer failure
virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl() reserves a DRM event with
drm_event_reserve_init() when VIRTGPU_EXECBUF_RING_IDX selects a ring that
userspace has enabled polling for. virtio_gpu_init_submit() does this
before the BO handles, the command buffer, the syncobj arrays and the
in-fence are processed, so every later error path runs with the event
already pending, including plain argument validation failures such as an
invalid bo_handle or an in-syncobj that carries no fence.
On those paths, virtio_gpu_cleanup_submit() drops the out-fence without
cancelling the event. The fence is freed without ever having been emitted,
taking the only driver-side pointer to the event with it. Closing the DRM
file does not help. drm_events_release() unlinks pending events but
deliberately leaves the freeing to the driver's later drm_send_event(),
which never runs for an orphaned event, so the allocation is leaked
permanently.
Found when fuzzing the virtio driver with Syzkaller:
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff88802c176e80 (size 96):
comm "syz.1.367", pid 10561, jiffies 4294960122
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
c8 6e 17 2c 80 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .n.,............
backtrace (crc e1973c6b):
kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline]
slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4597 [inline]
slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4917 [inline]
__kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x49d/0x6f0 mm/slub.c:5485
_kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:988 [inline]
_kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1309 [inline]
virtio_gpu_fence_event_create drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:282 [inline]
virtio_gpu_init_submit drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:398 [inline]
virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl+0xbbf/0x1aa0 drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:505
drm_ioctl_kernel+0x1f4/0x3e0 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:817
drm_ioctl+0x5f4/0xc70 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:914
vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
__do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
__se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline]
__x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x116/0x800 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Fix by cancelling and freeing the DRM event on the execbuffer error path
before dropping the fence. Clear the fence's event pointer after
cancellation so it does not retain a dangling pointer.
drm/virtio: fix memory leak of fence event on execbuffer failure
virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl() reserves a DRM event with
drm_event_reserve_init() when VIRTGPU_EXECBUF_RING_IDX selects a ring that
userspace has enabled polling for. virtio_gpu_init_submit() does this
before the BO handles, the command buffer, the syncobj arrays and the
in-fence are processed, so every later error path runs with the event
already pending, including plain argument validation failures such as an
invalid bo_handle or an in-syncobj that carries no fence.
On those paths, virtio_gpu_cleanup_submit() drops the out-fence without
cancelling the event. The fence is freed without ever having been emitted,
taking the only driver-side pointer to the event with it. Closing the DRM
file does not help. drm_events_release() unlinks pending events but
deliberately leaves the freeing to the driver's later drm_send_event(),
which never runs for an orphaned event, so the allocation is leaked
permanently.
Found when fuzzing the virtio driver with Syzkaller:
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff88802c176e80 (size 96):
comm "syz.1.367", pid 10561, jiffies 4294960122
hex dump (first 32 bytes):
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
c8 6e 17 2c 80 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .n.,............
backtrace (crc e1973c6b):
kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline]
slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4597 [inline]
slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4917 [inline]
__kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x49d/0x6f0 mm/slub.c:5485
_kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:988 [inline]
_kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1309 [inline]
virtio_gpu_fence_event_create drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:282 [inline]
virtio_gpu_init_submit drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:398 [inline]
virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl+0xbbf/0x1aa0 drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:505
drm_ioctl_kernel+0x1f4/0x3e0 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:817
drm_ioctl+0x5f4/0xc70 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:914
vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline]
__do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline]
__se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline]
__x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0x116/0x800 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Fix by cancelling and freeing the DRM event on the execbuffer error path
before dropping the fence. Clear the fence's event pointer after
cancellation so it does not retain a dangling pointer.
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Linux | Linux | affected |
|
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Fixes
Solution
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Workaround
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References
History
Sun, 18 Oct 2026 15:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/virtio: fix memory leak of fence event on execbuffer failure virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl() reserves a DRM event with drm_event_reserve_init() when VIRTGPU_EXECBUF_RING_IDX selects a ring that userspace has enabled polling for. virtio_gpu_init_submit() does this before the BO handles, the command buffer, the syncobj arrays and the in-fence are processed, so every later error path runs with the event already pending, including plain argument validation failures such as an invalid bo_handle or an in-syncobj that carries no fence. On those paths, virtio_gpu_cleanup_submit() drops the out-fence without cancelling the event. The fence is freed without ever having been emitted, taking the only driver-side pointer to the event with it. Closing the DRM file does not help. drm_events_release() unlinks pending events but deliberately leaves the freeing to the driver's later drm_send_event(), which never runs for an orphaned event, so the allocation is leaked permanently. Found when fuzzing the virtio driver with Syzkaller: BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88802c176e80 (size 96): comm "syz.1.367", pid 10561, jiffies 4294960122 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ c8 6e 17 2c 80 88 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .n.,............ backtrace (crc e1973c6b): kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline] slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4597 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4917 [inline] __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x49d/0x6f0 mm/slub.c:5485 _kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:988 [inline] _kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1309 [inline] virtio_gpu_fence_event_create drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:282 [inline] virtio_gpu_init_submit drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:398 [inline] virtio_gpu_execbuffer_ioctl+0xbbf/0x1aa0 drivers/gpu/drm/virtio/virtgpu_submit.c:505 drm_ioctl_kernel+0x1f4/0x3e0 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:817 drm_ioctl+0x5f4/0xc70 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_ioctl.c:914 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x116/0x800 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Fix by cancelling and freeing the DRM event on the execbuffer error path before dropping the fence. Clear the fence's event pointer after cancellation so it does not retain a dangling pointer. | |
| Title | drm/virtio: fix memory leak of fence event on execbuffer failure | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
|
Projects
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-10-18T15:17:19.352Z
Reserved: 2026-09-25T10:25:14.354Z
Link: CVE-2026-98509
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-10-18T16:17:02.083
Modified: 2026-10-18T16:17:02.083
Link: CVE-2026-98509
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.