CVE-2026-23127 PUBLISHED

perf: Fix refcount warning on event->mmap_count increment

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 13.01.2026 Published: 14.02.2026 Updated: 14.02.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

perf: Fix refcount warning on event->mmap_count increment

When calling refcount_inc(&event->mmap_count) inside perf_mmap_rb(), the following warning is triggered:

<pre> refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. WARNING: lib/refcount.c:25 </pre>

PoC:

<pre>struct perf_event_attr attr = {0}; int fd = syscall(__NR_perf_event_open, &attr, 0, -1, -1, 0); mmap(NULL, 0x3000, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, fd, 0); int victim = syscall(__NR_perf_event_open, &attr, 0, -1, fd, PERF_FLAG_FD_OUTPUT); mmap(NULL, 0x3000, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED, victim, 0); </pre>

This occurs when creating a group member event with the flag PERF_FLAG_FD_OUTPUT. The group leader should be mmap-ed and then mmap-ing the event triggers the warning.

Since the event has copied the output_event in perf_event_set_output(), event->rb is set. As a result, perf_mmap_rb() calls refcount_inc(&event->mmap_count) when event->mmap_count = 0.

Disallow the case when event->mmap_count = 0. This also prevents two events from updating the same user_page.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 448f97fba9013ffa13f5dd82febd18836b189499 to 23c0e4bd93d0b250775162faf456470485ac9fc7 (excl.)
  • affected from 448f97fba9013ffa13f5dd82febd18836b189499 to d06bf78e55d5159c1b00072e606ab924ffbbad35 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 6.18 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 6.18 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.8 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19 to * (incl.)

References