# CVE-2026-45898: RDMA/iwcm: Fix workqueue list corruption by removing work_list

> A list corruption bug in the Linux kernel RDMA/iwcm module can cause a kernel panic, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-45898, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45898, GHSA-527m-87rr-p4rj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45898

## What is CVE-2026-45898?

CVE-2026-45898 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

RDMA/iwcm: Fix workqueue list corruption by removing work_list

The commit e1168f0 ("RDMA/iwcm: Simplify cm_event_handler()")
changed the work submission logic to unconditionally call
queue_work() with the expectation that queue_work() would
have no effect if work was already pending. The problem is
that a free list of struct iwcm_work is used (for which
struct work_struct is embedded), so each call to queue_work()
is basically unique and therefore does indeed queue the work.

This causes a problem in the work handler which walks the work_list
until it's empty to process entries. This means that a single
run of the work handler could process item N+1 and release it
back to the free list while the actual workqueue entry is still
queued. It could then get reused (INIT_WORK...) and lead to
list corruption in the workqueue logic.

Fix this by just removing the work_list. The workqueue already
does this for us.

This fixes the following error that was observed when stress
testing with ucmatose on an Intel E830 in iWARP mode:

[  151.465780] list_del corruption. next->prev should be ffff9f0915c69c08, but was ffff9f0a1116be08. (next=ffff9f0a15b11c08)
[  151.466639] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[  151.466986] kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:67!
[  151.467349] Oops: invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
[  151.467753] CPU: 14 UID: 0 PID: 2306 Comm: kworker/u64:18 Not tainted 6.19.0-rc4+ #1 PREEMPT(voluntary)
[  151.468466] Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014
[  151.469192] Workqueue:  0x0 (iw_cm_wq)
[  151.469478] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xf0/0x100
[  151.469942] Code: c7 58 5f 4c b2 e8 10 50 aa ff 0f 0b 48 89 ef e8 36 57 cb ff 48 8b 55 08 48 89 e9 48 89 de 48 c7 c7 a8 5f 4c b2 e8 f0 4f aa ff <0f> 0b 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 90 90 90 90 90 90
[  151.471323] RSP: 0000:ffffb15644e7bd68 EFLAGS: 00010046
[  151.471712] RAX: 000000000000006d RBX: ffff9f0915c69c08 RCX: 0000000000000027
[  151.472243] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff9f0a37d9c600
[  151.472768] RBP: ffff9f0a15b11c08 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: c0000000ffff7fff
[  151.473294] R10: 0000000000000001 R11: ffffb15644e7bba8 R12: ffff9f092339ee68
[  151.473817] R13: ffff9f0900059c28 R14: ffff9f092339ee78 R15: 0000000000000000
[  151.474344] FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff9f0a847b5000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[  151.474934] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[  151.475362] CR2: 0000559e233a9088 CR3: 000000020296b004 CR4: 0000000000770ef0
[  151.475895] PKRU: 55555554
[  151.476118] Call Trace:
[  151.476331]  <TASK>
[  151.476497]  move_linked_works+0x49/0xa0
[  151.476792]  __pwq_activate_work.isra.46+0x2f/0xa0
[  151.477151]  pwq_dec_nr_in_flight+0x1e0/0x2f0
[  151.477479]  process_scheduled_works+0x1c8/0x410
[  151.477823]  worker_thread+0x125/0x260
[  151.478108]  ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10
[  151.478430]  kthread+0xfe/0x240
[  151.478671]  ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[  151.478955]  ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[  151.479240]  ret_from_fork+0x208/0x270
[  151.479523]  ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10
[  151.479806]  ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
[  151.480103]  </TASK>

Weakness: CWE-1341 (Multiple Releases of Same Resource or Handle)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45898?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-45898?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-45898 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45898 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-45898 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-45898 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45898 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45898/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45898/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-45898
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45898
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45898

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45898/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
