CVE-2026-90186 null_blk: reject per-device queue resize for shared tag set
A local attacker with high privileges can crash the Linux kernel by resizing queues on a null_blk device with shared tags, causing a null pointer dereference.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-90186?
CVE-2026-90186 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 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:
null_blk: reject per-device queue resize for shared tag set
When shared_tags is enabled, null_setup_tagset() makes the device use the global tag_set, whose driver_data stays NULL. null_map_queues() therefore falls back to the module-wide g_submit_queues/g_poll_queues instead of any per-device value.
Resizing submit_queues or poll_queues via configfs on such a device calls blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues() on the shared set, shrinking set->nr_hw_queues. __blk_mq_realloc_hw_ctxs() only grows the q->queue_hw_ctx[] allocation, so on shrink it merely exits and NULLs the now-excess hctx slots. null_map_queues(), however, keeps mapping CPUs with the unchanged g_submit_queues/g_poll_queues, so mq_map[] ends up pointing at those NULLed hctx slots. blk_mq_map_swqueue() then dereferences the NULL hctx (hctx->cpumask), crashing the kernel:
[ 460.218374] KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000098-0x000000000000009f] [ 460.219003] CPU: 24 UID: 0 PID: 1492 Comm: sh Not tainted 7.2.0-rc2+ #67 PREEMPT(full) [ 460.219792] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.17.0-4.fc41 04/01/2014 [ 460.220452] RIP: 0010:blk_mq_map_swqueue+0x4db/0x1430 ...... [ 460.228977] Call Trace: [ 460.229175] <TASK> [ 460.229354] blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues+0xd49/0x11c0 [ 460.229779] ? __pfx_blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues+0x10/0x10 [ 460.230200] nullb_update_nr_hw_queues+0x1a9/0x370 [null_blk] [ 460.230694] nullb_device_submit_queues_store+0xd9/0x170 [null_blk] [ 460.231190] ? __pfx_nullb_device_submit_queues_store+0x10/0x10 [null_blk] [ 460.231776] ? configfs_write_iter+0x35c/0x4e0 [ 460.232122] configfs_write_iter+0x286/0x4e0 [ 460.232460] vfs_write+0x52d/0xd00 [ 460.232779] ? __x64_sys_openat+0x108/0x1d0 [ 460.233106] ? __pfx_vfs_write+0x10/0x10 [ 460.233413] ? fdget_pos+0x1cf/0x4c0 [ 460.233745] ? fput_close+0x133/0x190 [ 460.234038] ? __pfx_expand_files+0x10/0x10 [ 460.234368] ksys_write+0xfc/0x1d0
Reproducer: modprobe null_blk shared_tags=1 submit_queues=64 poll_queues=1 mkdir /sys/kernel/config/nullb/dev echo 1 > /sys/kernel/config/nullb/dev/power echo 1 > /sys/kernel/config/nullb/dev/submit_queues
A per-device resize of a shared tag set is meaningless anyway, so reject it with -EINVAL in nullb_update_nr_hw_queues() when the device is bound to the global tag_set.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90186?
How do I fix CVE-2026-90186?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-90186 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90186 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-103017, BELL-CVE-2026-90186, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90186, GHSA-m9g9-w42f-xp82, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90186.