{"id":"CVE-2026-98537","revision":"56a3de7e0beb4f39889546d8044e051f","records":[{"revision":"56a3de7e0beb4f39889546d8044e051f","observedAt":"2026-10-23T15:48:27.903+00:00","statement":{"source":"cve-program","id":"CVE-2026-98537","aliases":[],"title":"workqueue: Fix NULL current_pwq deref in flush dependency check","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nworkqueue: Fix NULL current_pwq deref in flush dependency check\n\ncheck_flush_dependency() uses current_wq_worker() to determine whether\nthe caller is a workqueue worker and then dereferences worker->current_pwq\nto test whether the current workqueue is WQ_MEM_RECLAIM.\n\ncurrent_wq_worker() only means that %current has PF_WQ_WORKER set. A\nkworker can reach check_flush_dependency() while it is not executing a\nwork item. One such path is worker_thread() acting as the pool manager,\nwhere create_worker() does GFP_KERNEL allocation and the allocation path\ninvokes the OOM notifier. In that state worker->current_pwq is NULL\nbecause current_pwq is set only by process_one_work() and cleared again\nafter the work function returns.\n\n[  416.760634][  T375] Call trace:\n[  416.760638][  T375]  check_flush_dependency+0x80/0x120 (P)\n[  416.760648][  T375]  __flush_work+0x98/0x224\n[  416.760657][  T375]  flush_work+0x30/0x44\n[  416.760665][  T375]  ...\n[  416.760710][  T375]  blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x58/0xa0\n[  416.760719][  T375]  out_of_memory+0xb4/0x458\n[  416.760730][  T375]  __alloc_pages_may_oom+0x11c/0x1a8\n[  416.760739][  T375]  __alloc_pages_slowpath+0x314/0x46c\n[  416.760746][  T375]  __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x110/0x1a4\n[  416.760753][  T375]  new_slab+0x12c/0x484\n[  416.760759][  T375]  ___slab_alloc+0x7a8/0xc7c\n[  416.760765][  T375]  __slab_alloc+0x74/0xd8\n[  416.760772][  T375]  __kmalloc_cache_node_noprof+0x2ac/0x304\n[  416.760779][  T375]  alloc_worker+0x28/0x60\n[  416.760785][  T375]  create_worker+0x4c/0x20c\n[  416.760790][  T375]  worker_thread+0xe8/0x2b8\n[  416.760796][  T375]  kthread+0x1a8/0x200\n[  416.760805][  T375]  ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20\n\nGuard the WQ_MEM_RECLAIM-worker warning with worker->current_pwq. If the\nkworker is not currently executing a work item, there is no current\nworkqueue to diagnose with that warning. The PF_MEMALLOC warning is left\nunchanged so explicit reclaim context flushing a !WQ_MEM_RECLAIM target\nis still reported.","state":0,"publishedAt":"2026-10-18T15:18:05.028+00:00","modifiedAt":"2026-10-19T09:21:20.715+00:00","affected":[{"ecosystem":"Vendor product","name":"Linux","ranges":[],"versions":[],"rawVersionEvidence":"{\n                    \"product\": \"Linux\",\n                    \"vendor\": \"Linux\",\n                    \"defaultStatus\": \"unaffected\",\n                    \"repo\": \"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\n                    \"programFiles\": [\n                        \"kernel/workqueue.c\"\n                    ],\n                    \"versions\": [\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"8ffececcb88262389b4f91fed0fe4884b68204bc\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"9bb739a5c5a570c28a62afb98e9326e2a49743c1\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"cc190a6a1d20b87e6a9435202fc2a3bd84c79fb3\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"513121e69388604619ea8c0ee07e86a3d1b5b5dc\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"0c6b9b1e295aeff1132ac7aa738148cc65f06485\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"1dccf5dc2f8fe688270b261ca4216e03c6a1e674\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"f97e6d0572d1b39998e053732332bc3cfdd0b9aa\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"fca839c00a12d682cb59b3b620d109a1d850b262\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"db6365ced4d5855e321f772b240c0e473bcfcdd5\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"git\"\n                        }\n                    ]\n                }"},{"ecosystem":"Vendor product","name":"Linux","ranges":[],"versions":[],"rawVersionEvidence":"{\n                    \"product\": \"Linux\",\n                    \"vendor\": \"Linux\",\n                    \"defaultStatus\": \"affected\",\n                    \"repo\": \"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git\",\n                    \"programFiles\": [\n                        \"kernel/workqueue.c\"\n                    ],\n                    \"versions\": [\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"4.5\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"0\",\n                            \"lessThan\": \"4.5\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"5.10.271\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"5.10.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"5.15.222\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"5.15.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"6.1.189\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"6.1.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"6.6.158\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"6.6.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"6.12.112\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"6.12.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"6.18.55\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"6.18.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"7.2.9\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"7.2.*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        },\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"7.3\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"*\",\n                            \"status\": \"unaffected\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"original_commit_for_fix\"\n                        }\n                    ]\n                }"}],"metrics":[],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ffececcb88262389b4f91fed0fe4884b68204bc","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9bb739a5c5a570c28a62afb98e9326e2a49743c1","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cc190a6a1d20b87e6a9435202fc2a3bd84c79fb3","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/513121e69388604619ea8c0ee07e86a3d1b5b5dc","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c6b9b1e295aeff1132ac7aa738148cc65f06485","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1dccf5dc2f8fe688270b261ca4216e03c6a1e674","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f97e6d0572d1b39998e053732332bc3cfdd0b9aa","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/db6365ced4d5855e321f772b240c0e473bcfcdd5"],"sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98537","license":"CVE Program Terms of Use","key":"cve-program:CVE-2026-98537","identifiers":["CVE-2026-98537"]},"retained":false,"historicalAffected":[]}],"coverage":[]}