# CVE-2026-89460: s390/cpum_cf: Handle CPU hotplug via prepare/dead callbacks

> A local attacker can crash the Linux kernel by triggering a null pointer dereference in the s390 CPU measurement facility during CPU hotplug events.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 11 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-100547, BELL-CVE-2026-89460, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-89460, GHSA-qv9g-m2j2-jrgj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-89460

## What is CVE-2026-89460?

CVE-2026-89460 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

s390/cpum_cf: Handle CPU hotplug via prepare/dead callbacks

The command 'perf stat -e cycles -- <command>' crashes the kernel
when CPUs are hotplug added during that run.

Root cause is the allocation of struct cpu_cf_events at first
event initialization. The allocation is dynamic and the first
event that has task context creates such a structure for
each online CPU. This is not sufficient. CPUs may be offline
during event creation and can be set online during the
perf run time. For example commands

 # echo 0 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online
 # perf stat -e cycles -i -- stress-ng -t10s --matrix X
 # sleep 1
 # echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/online

create an event for CPUs 0,2-X. Since the events are created with
task-context, the scheduler will eventually schedule the program
on CPU1. This CPU has not created and initialized any per
CPU event infrastructure as that CPU was not online at the time
of the perf invocation. Thus when the scheduler runs stress-ng
on CPU1, the function cpumf_pmu_add() refers to a NULL pointer:

 struct cpu_cf_events *cpuhw = this_cpu_cfhw();

This function call is invoked after the task stress-ng has been
made runnable on CPU1. And this_cpu_cfhw() returns NULL.

The result is a panic:
Unable to handle kernel pointer dereference in virtual kernel address space
Failing address: 0000000000000000 TEID: 0000000000000483
....
Krnl PSW : 0404d00180000000 000003ef8291fd0c (cpumf_pmu_add+0x3c/0x80)
....
Call Trace:
 [<000003ef8291fd0c>] cpumf_pmu_add+0x3c/0x80
 [<000003ef82bb5e3e>] event_sched_in+0xae/0x190
 [<000003ef82bb60d6>] merge_sched_in+0x1b6/0x390
 [<000003ef82bb65b8>] visit_groups_merge.constprop.0.isra.0+0x308/0x5b0
 [<000003ef82bb689a>] pmu_groups_sched_in+0x3a/0x50
 [<000003ef82bb6a30>] ctx_sched_in+0x180/0x260
 [<000003ef82bb780c>] perf_event_context_sched_in+0x11c/0x2d0
 [<000003ef82bb79ee>] __perf_event_task_sched_in+0x2e/0xc0
 [<000003ef82994834>] finish_task_switch.isra.0+0x1a4/0x250
....
Last Breaking-Event-Address:
 [<000003ef8291f1d8>] this_cpu_cfhw+0x38/0x40

The issue arises only in per-task context when the CPUMF facility is
used and the scheduler picks a random CPU for such a process to run on.
The scheduler enables the CPUMF infrastructure via PMU callback
functions pmu::add() and pmu::del().

Introduce a CPU hotplug prepare/dead callback pair which creates and
removes the per CPU counter data while the CPU is offline. Count the
users which track every CPU (cpu == -1), that is perf_event_open()
events with task context and /dev/hwctr device sessions, in the new
counter cpu_cf_root::tskcnt, protected by pmc_reserve_mutex.
This ensures the infrastructure is available when
new CPU is selected to run the per-task context process.

In cpum_cf_free_root() and cpum_cf_free_cpu() ensure the reference
pointer to data structures is set to NULL before the data is freed
to prevent interrupt handlers to access stale data.

[gor@linux.ibm.com: change commit message]

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-89460?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-89460?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-89460 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-89460 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-89460 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-89460 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-89460 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-89460/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-89460/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-89460
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89460
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-89460

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-89460/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.