CVE-2026-98866 PUBLISHED

sched/cache: Introduce task_struct->sched_cache_grp to fix UAF

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 18.10.2026 Updated: 18.10.2026

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

sched/cache: Introduce task_struct->sched_cache_grp to fix UAF

Add a sched_cache_grp pointer to task_struct so that scheduler code can access the cache group directly via the task, without going through mm->sched_cache_grp. This decouples the scheduler's hot-path accesses from the mm_struct.

Each task holds its own refcount on the sched_cache_group, separate from the reference held by its mm_struct. The reference is acquired in copy_mm() (fork) and exec_mmap() (exec), and released in exit_mm(). This fixes the use-after-free when account_mm_sched() reaches the group through a task whose mm is being switched, as reported by Hyunwoo:

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/apPb-Dr4nPYuHQOK@v4bel/

Convert all scheduler code in fair.c and exit.c to use p->sched_cache_grp instead of p->mm->sched_cache_grp.

Keep the fork/exec/exit reference management out of the generic mm paths: add sched_cache_fork(), sched_cache_fork_cleanup(), sched_cache_exec_mmap() and sched_cache_exit_mm() in kernel/sched/cache_sched.c (with empty stubs for !CONFIG_SCHED_CACHE), so fs/exec.c, kernel/fork.c and kernel/exit.c each call one helper instead of open-coding the refcounting under #ifdef. Also add sched_cache_group_get() and task_cache_group_get().

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from df0d98475954d655571979aa061ecb07d7e00392 to 9436130e6da72af63289a4acb3aa0c1df07a3928 (excl.)
  • affected from df0d98475954d655571979aa061ecb07d7e00392 to b636fef85bda7d1bab9c0a45067ab1508d79d946 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 7.2 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 7.2 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.10 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc5 to * (incl.)

References