In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
workqueue: Fix spruious data race in __flush_work()
When flushing a work item for cancellation, __flush_work() knows that it exclusively owns the work item through its PENDING bit. 134874e2eee9 ("workqueue: Allow cancel_work_sync() and disable_work() from atomic contexts on BH work items") added a read of @work->data to determine whether to use busy wait for BH work items that are being canceled. While the read is safe when @from_cancel, @work->data was read before testing @from_cancel to simplify code structure:
data = *work_data_bits(work); if (from_cancel && !WARN_ON_ONCE(data & WORK_STRUCT_PWQ) && (data & WORK_OFFQ_BH)) {
While the read data was never used if !@from_cancel, this could trigger KCSAN data race detection spuriously:
================================================================== BUG: KCSAN: data-race in __flush_work / __flush_work
write to 0xffff8881223aa3e8 of 8 bytes by task 3998 on cpu 0: instrument_write include/linux/instrumented.h:41 [inline] ___set_bit include/asm-generic/bitops/instrumented-non-atomic.h:28 [inline] insert_wq_barrier kernel/workqueue.c:3790 [inline] start_flush_work kernel/workqueue.c:4142 [inline] __flush_work+0x30b/0x570 kernel/workqueue.c:4178 flush_work kernel/workqueue.c:4229 [inline] ...
read to 0xffff8881223aa3e8 of 8 bytes by task 50 on cpu 1: __flush_work+0x42a/0x570 kernel/workqueue.c:4188 flush_work kernel/workqueue.c:4229 [inline] flush_delayed_work+0x66/0x70 kernel/workqueue.c:4251 ...
value changed: 0x0000000000400000 -> 0xffff88810006c00d
Reorganize the code so that @from_cancel is tested before @work->data is accessed. The only problem is triggering KCSAN detection spuriously. This shouldn't need READ_ONCE() or other access qualifiers.
No functional changes.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 3.1 Base Score: 4.7
- CVSS 3.1 Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
Covered by Rapid7
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debian | — | Upgrade linux | Jul 27, 2026 | Jul 27, 2026 |
| Redhat_linux | — | No solution exists | Jul 9, 2025 | Sep 13, 2024 |
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