CVE-2026-98398
Received
Received - Intake
Lock Class Cache Stale Entry in Linux Kernel
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-98398, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-10-14
Last updated on: 2026-10-19
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
locking/lockdep: Invalidate stale class_cache entries for zapped classes
syzbot reported a lockdep splat hitting DEBUG_LOCKS_WARN_ON(1) in
hlock_class() due to an invalid class_idx:
WARNING: kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 at __lock_acquire+0x382/0x2cf0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5203
Workqueue: wg-crypt-wg0 wg_packet_tx_worker
RIP: 0010:hlock_class kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 [inline]
RIP: 0010:check_wait_context kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4870 [inline]
RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire+0x389/0x2cf0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5203
Call Trace:
<IRQ>
lock_acquire+0x106/0x350 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5886
_raw_spin_lock+0x2e/0x40 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:173
tcp_tsq_handler+0x29/0x200 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1291
tcp_tsq_workfn+0x384/0x410 net/ipv4/tcp_output.c:1325
...
When a lock class is zapped (e.g. during module unload or key
unregistration), zap_class() clears the class's bit in
lock_classes_in_use and removes it from the class hash table.
However, existing lockdep_map instances embedded in data structures
may still retain a pointer to the zapped class in their class_cache[]
array.
When __lock_acquire() subsequently runs on such a lock, it finds
lock->class_cache[subclass] != NULL, skipping register_lock_class()
and assigning hlock->class_idx to the index of the zapped class. When
check_wait_context() or hlock_class() inspects the held_lock, it finds
!test_bit(class_idx, lock_classes_in_use) and warns. Furthermore, if
the zapped slot is subsequently re-allocated to an unrelated lock key,
the stale class_cache entry would erroneously match the unrelated
class (ABA issue).
Add lock_class_cache_is_valid() to validate that the cached class is
within lock_classes bounds, still allocated in lock_classes_in_use
(using uninstrumented arch_test_bit() in __always_inline context so it
is safe in noinstr contexts like match_held_lock()), and that
class->key matches the expected subkey (taking lockdep_set_subclass()
overrides into account). Also use READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE() when
accessing class_cache[]. If the entry is invalid or stale, fall back
to register_lock_class() / look_up_lock_class().
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | a0b0fd53e1e67639b303b15939b9c653dbe7a8c4 |
| Linux | Linux | 5.1 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
