CVE-2026-98071 net/rds: clear cp_flags bits individually in rds_conn_path_reset()
A race condition in the Linux kernel RDS module can cause silent data loss or state corruption, potentially leading to denial of service or undefined behavior.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-98071?
CVE-2026-98071 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 Sep 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:
net/rds: clear cp_flags bits individually in rds_conn_path_reset()
rds_conn_path_reset() wipes the whole flag word with a plain cp->cp_flags = 0 store. Every other accessor of that word uses atomic bitops, and some of them can run concurrently with the reset: RDS_LL_SEND_FULL is set from rds_send_xmit() and cleared from the transport completion paths, neither of which holds anything that excludes the shutdown worker. A plain store racing an atomic read-modify-write on the same word is a data race, and whichever side loses has its update silently discarded.
Clear the two bits the reset is actually responsible for instead. RDS_IN_XMIT and RDS_RECV_REFILL need no store at all here: they belong to the caller, rds_conn_shutdown(), which waits for both to be clear before calling the transport shutdown and this reset.
This also gives every bit in cp_flags a single well-defined writer discipline, which the following patches rely on when they turn RDS_IN_XMIT and RDS_RECV_REFILL into bit locks held across the teardown: a blanket store mid-teardown would destroy lock ownership that an atomic clear preserves.
Oracle UEK carries the same conversion ("net/rds: Preserve essential connection state flags"), motivated by its asynchronous shutdown state machine, whose progress and destroy flags must survive the reset. UEK's variant also clears RDS_IN_XMIT and RDS_RECV_REFILL because there the reset runs as the final step of a teardown that owns both bits, making those clears its unlock. Upstream that release belongs in rds_conn_shutdown(): once a later patch in this series turns the two bits into locks held across the teardown, ending ownership needs release semantics and a wake-up that a plain clear inside the reset would not provide.
Based on Oracle UEK commit "net/rds: Preserve essential connection state flags" by Gerd Rausch.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98071?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98071?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-98071 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98071 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-110488, BELL-CVE-2026-98071, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98071, GHSA-7v4m-g362-6xhw, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98071.