# CVE-2026-98520: drm/amdkfd: fix use-after-free and multi-container gap in kfd_dev_mapping

> A use-after-free in the AMD KFD driver allows local attackers to cause system hangs or potentially escalate privileges via GPU reset paths in multi-container environments.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 18 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98520, GHSA-x886-mwj9-qhhg, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98520

## What is CVE-2026-98520?

CVE-2026-98520 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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:

drm/amdkfd: fix use-after-free and multi-container gap in kfd_dev_mapping

kfd_dev_mapping caches the address_space of the first /dev/kfd opener
so that the GPU reset path can call unmap_mapping_range() to zap all
userspace mappings of doorbell and MMIO ranges.  This design has two
bugs that both manifest under SRIOV with multiple containers:

1. Use-after-free / rwsem deadlock.  The cached pointer refers to an
   inode owned by the first opener's container.  When that container
   exits and its inode is released, kfd_dev_mapping becomes a dangling
   pointer.  A subsequent GPU reset dereferences it inside
   unmap_mapping_range(), which takes i_mmap_rwsem on the freed inode,
   causing a hard hang observable as an uninterruptible rwsem wait.

2. Multi-container gap.  Only the first opener's address_space is cached;
   VMAs created by later openers live in a different address_space and
   are never reached by unmap_mapping_range().  After a GPU reset those
   stale mappings keep doorbell and MMIO pages accessible to guest
   userspace with no GPU behind them, risking PCIe transaction timeouts
   and NMI panics.

Fix both bugs with the same approach used by DRM core (drm_drv.c):
create a private pseudo-filesystem at module init time and allocate one
anonymous inode from it.  In kfd_open() redirect every opener's
file->f_mapping to that inode's address_space.  The inode is
module-owned, lives exactly as long as the amdgpu module, and collects
VMAs from all openers in one address_space.  A single
unmap_mapping_range() call in the reset path then correctly reaches
every container's mappings with no dangling pointer risk.

The hang manifests as an NMI backtrace on the GPU reset workqueue stuck
spinning in rwsem_down_read_slowpath() with a corrupted i_mmap_rwsem:

  Workqueue: amdgpu-reset-dev xgpu_ai_mailbox_flr_work [amdgpu]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   kvm_wait+0x1f/0x40
   __pv_queued_spin_lock_slowpath+0x31d/0x3a0
   _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x51/0x80
   rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0xb3/0x550
   down_read+0x48/0xd0
   unmap_mapping_range+0x71/0x140
   kfd_dev_unmap_mapping_range+0x5b/0x140 [amdgpu]
   amdgpu_amdkfd_clear_kfd_mapping+0xd8/0x190 [amdgpu]
   amdgpu_device_gpu_recover+0x232/0x450 [amdgpu]
   xgpu_ai_mailbox_flr_work+0xb5/0xc0 [amdgpu]
   process_one_work+0x18e/0x3e0
   worker_thread+0x2e3/0x420
   kthread+0x10a/0x230

(cherry picked from commit 1128b4a52de1572e87431de837fd9850cb99542c)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98520?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98520?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98520 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98520 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98520 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98520 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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-2026-98520 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-2026-98520/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98520/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98520
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98520
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98520

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98520/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.