In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
xfrm: move policy_bydst RCU sync from per-netns .exit to .pre_exit
The struct pernet_operations docstring in include/net/net_namespace.h explicitly warns against blocking RCU primitives in .exit handlers:
Exit methods using blocking RCU primitives, such as synchronize_rcu(), should be implemented via exit_batch. [...] Please, avoid synchronize_rcu() at all, where it's possible.
Note that a combination of pre_exit() and exit() can be used, since a synchronize_rcu() is guaranteed between the calls.
xfrm_policy_fini() violates this: it calls synchronize_rcu() before freeing the policy_bydst hash tables (so no RCU reader is mid- traversal at free time), but runs from xfrm_net_ops.exit -- once per namespace -- so a cleanup_net() of N namespaces pays N full RCU grace periods serially.
Use the documented pre_exit/exit split. Move the policy flush (and the workqueue drains it depends on) into a new .pre_exit handler; xfrm_policy_fini() then runs in .exit and frees the hash tables after the synchronize_rcu_expedited() that cleanup_net() guarantees between the two phases. Providing O(1) RCU grace periods per batch instead of O(N).
Observed on Linux 6.18 with a workload doing unshare(CLONE_NEWNET) at ~13/sec sustained: cleanup_net() and the netns_wq rescuer kthread both stuck in xfrm_policy_fini()'s synchronize_rcu(), >300k struct net accumulated in the cleanup queue, Percpu in /proc/meminfo climbed to 130+ GB on 256-CPU hosts, and memcg OOMs followed. setup_net and __put_net counts were balanced, ruling out a refcount leak.
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon_linux_2023 | — | Upgrade kernel6.18Upgrade kernel6.12-modules-extraUpgrade kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade kernel6.12-modules-extra-commonUpgrade kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-aarch64Upgrade perf6.12-debuginfoUpgrade kernel6.12-headersUpgrade kernel6.12-develUpgrade kernel6.18-headersUpgrade kernel6.12-toolsUpgrade python3-perf6.12Upgrade microvm-kernel6.18Upgrade bpftool6.18Upgrade kernel6.18-modules-extraUpgrade kernel6.18-modules-extra-commonUpgrade kernel6.12-tools-develUpgrade kernel6.12-debuginfoUpgrade kernel6.12Upgrade kernel6.18-toolsUpgrade python3-perf6.12-debuginfoUpgrade perf6.18Upgrade bpftool6.12-debuginfoUpgrade python3-perf6.18-debuginfoUpgrade perf6.12Upgrade kernel6.18-tools-debuginfoUpgrade kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64Upgrade kernel-livepatch-6.18.35-68.127Upgrade python3-perf6.18Upgrade kernel6.18-tools-develUpgrade bpftool6.18-debuginfoUpgrade kernel6.18-develUpgrade perf6.18-debuginfoUpgrade kernel6.18-debuginfoUpgrade bpftool6.12Upgrade kernel6.12-tools-debuginfoUpgrade kernel-livepatch-6.12.94-123.174 | Aug 18, 2026 | Jul 25, 2026 |
| Debian | — | Upgrade linux | Jul 28, 2026 | Jul 28, 2026 |
| Redhat_linux | — | No solution exists | Jul 31, 2026 | Jul 25, 2026 |
| Ubuntu | — | Upgrade linux-image-azure-7.0Upgrade linux-image-raspi-7.0Upgrade linux-image-awsUpgrade linux-image-gcp-64kUpgrade linux-image-gcp-7.0Upgrade linux-image-nvidia-64k-7.0Upgrade linux-image-nvidia-bos-64k-7.0Upgrade linux-image-raspiUpgrade linux-image-azureUpgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1011-gcpUpgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1015-raspi-realtimeUpgrade linux-image-7.0.0-2016-nvidia-bosUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-bosUpgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1009-awsUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-7.0Upgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1011-gcp-64kUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-hwe-26.04Upgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1009-aws-64kUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-64k-hwe-26.04Upgrade linux-image-7.0.0-2016-nvidia-bos-64kUpgrade linux-image-aws-64k-7.0Upgrade linux-image-aws-64kUpgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1016-nvidia-64kUpgrade linux-image-nvidiaUpgrade linux-image-gcp-64k-7.0Upgrade linux-image-raspi-realtimeUpgrade linux-image-raspi-realtime-7.0Upgrade linux-image-aws-7.0Upgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1014-azureUpgrade linux-image-gcpUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-bos-64kUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-64kUpgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1015-raspiUpgrade linux-image-nvidia-bos-7.0Upgrade linux-image-7.0.0-1016-nvidia | Jul 28, 2026 | Jul 28, 2026 |
| Vmware Photon_os | — | Use 'tdnf update' to upgrade all packages to the latest version. | Jul 31, 2026 | Jul 25, 2026 |
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