# CVE-2026-90269: bpf: Reject load-acquire from pointers requiring fault protection

> A local attacker with BPF privileges can trigger a kernel panic by using load-acquire instructions on untrusted pointers, causing a denial of service.

- **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:** 17 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-90269, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90269, GHSA-2xhx-g2j2-v5cp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90269

## What is CVE-2026-90269?

CVE-2026-90269 is a denial of service 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:

bpf: Reject load-acquire from pointers requiring fault protection

A BPF_LOAD_ACQ is not rewritten to a BPF_PROBE_MEM load by the verifier,
unlike a regular BPF_LDX, so the JIT emits a plain load with no exception
table entry and a fault panics the kernel instead of being handled.

Reject the source pointer types that a BPF_LDX would have had that fault
protection applied to, i.e. the ones bpf_convert_ctx_accesses() turns
into BPF_PROBE_MEM: a bare PTR_TO_BTF_ID, PTR_TO_BTF_ID | PTR_UNTRUSTED,
PTR_TO_BTF_ID | MEM_ALLOC | PTR_UNTRUSTED and PTR_TO_MEM | MEM_RDONLY |
PTR_UNTRUSTED.

This is reachable e.g. by loading ->mm out of a trusted task_struct
yields an untrusted pointer to mm_struct, and it is NULL for a kernel
thread:

  [...]
  SEC("tp_btf/sched_switch")
  int BPF_PROG(demo, bool preempt, struct task_struct *prev,
               struct task_struct *next)
  {
      struct mm_struct *mm = next->mm;  /* untrusted */

      out_ldx = (__u64)mm->pgd;         /* BPF_LDX      */
      out_acq = load_acquire(&mm->pgd); /* BPF_LOAD_ACQ */
      return 0;
  }
  [...]

Both dereference the same pointer, but only the BPF_LDX is protected
(x86-64 JIT, jump targets shown prog-relative):

  [...]
  ; out_ldx = (__u64)mm->pgd;
  17:   movq    $-10485760, %r10
  1e:   movq    %rsi, %r11
  21:   addq    $184, %r11
  28:   subq    %r10, %r11
  2b:   movabsq $140737498841088, %r10
  35:   cmpq    %r10, %r11
  38:   ja      0x3e                 <-- kernel addr?
  3a:   xorl    %edi, %edi           <-- no: dst = 0, skip the load
  3c:   jmp     0x45
  3e:   movq    184(%rsi), %rdi      <-- yes: load + extable entry
  [...]
  ; load_acquire(&mm->pgd)
  53:	movq    %rsi, %rdi
  56:	movq    184(%rdi), %rax       <-- no check, no extable entry
  [...]

Note that BPF_PROBE_MEM is not visible in a bpftool xlated dump, as
bpf_insn_prepare_dump() rewrites it back to BPF_MEM.

A PTR_TRUSTED pointer is deliberately not on the list. Such a load is
not converted either, but it does not need to be, since the pointer is
guaranteed live, so load-acquire from it stays allowed.

The check is gated on BPF_LOAD_ACQ so that atomic RMW and store-release
error messages are unchanged; writes (RMW / store-release) to such
pointers are already rejected elsewhere, so only load-acquire needs this.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90269?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-90269?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-90269 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90269 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-90269 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-90269 is a denial of service 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90269 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-2026-90269/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90269/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90269
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90269
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-90269

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90269/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.