CVE-2026-45957 rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to softirq
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to softirq

Commit 5f5fa7ea89dc ("rcu: Don't use negative nesting depth in
__rcu_read_unlock()") removes the recursion-protection code from
__rcu_read_unlock(). Therefore, we could invoke the deadloop in
raise_softirq_irqoff() with ftrace enabled as follows:

WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 0 at kernel/trace/trace.c:3021 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x172/0x180
Modules linked in: my_irq_work(O)
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G O 6.18.0-rc7-dirty #23 PREEMPT(full)
Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.15.0-1 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:__ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x172/0x180
RSP: 0018:ffffc900000034a8 EFLAGS: 00010002
RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000004 RCX: 0000000000000000
RDX: 0000000000000003 RSI: ffffffff826d7b87 RDI: ffffffff826e9329
RBP: 0000000000090009 R08: 0000000000000005 R09: ffffffff82afbc4c
R10: 0000000000000008 R11: 0000000000011d7a R12: 0000000000000000
R13: ffff888003874100 R14: 0000000000000003 R15: ffff8880038c1054
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8880fa8ea000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 000055b31fa7f540 CR3: 00000000078f4005 CR4: 0000000000770ef0
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
 <IRQ>
 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220
 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260
 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80
 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0
 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160
 unwind_next_frame+0x203/0x9b0
 __unwind_start+0x15d/0x1c0
 arch_stack_walk+0x62/0xf0
 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70
 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180
 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220
 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260
 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80
 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0
 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160
 unwind_next_frame+0x203/0x9b0
 __unwind_start+0x15d/0x1c0
 arch_stack_walk+0x62/0xf0
 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70
 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180
 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220
 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260
 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80
 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0
 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160
 unwind_next_frame+0x203/0x9b0
 __unwind_start+0x15d/0x1c0
 arch_stack_walk+0x62/0xf0
 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70
 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180
 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220
 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260
 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80
 raise_softirq_irqoff+0x6e/0xa0
 rcu_read_unlock_special+0xb1/0x160
 __is_insn_slot_addr+0x54/0x70
 kernel_text_address+0x48/0xc0
 __kernel_text_address+0xd/0x40
 unwind_get_return_address+0x1e/0x40
 arch_stack_walk+0x9c/0xf0
 stack_trace_save+0x48/0x70
 __ftrace_trace_stack.constprop.0+0x144/0x180
 trace_buffer_unlock_commit_regs+0x6d/0x220
 trace_event_buffer_commit+0x5c/0x260
 trace_event_raw_event_softirq+0x47/0x80
 __raise_softirq_irqoff+0x61/0x80
 __flush_smp_call_function_queue+0x115/0x420
 __sysvec_call_function_single+0x17/0xb0
 sysvec_call_function_single+0x8c/0xc0
 </IRQ>

Commit b41642c87716 ("rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to IRQ work")
fixed the infinite loop in rcu_read_unlock_special() for IRQ work by
setting a flag before calling irq_work_queue_on(). We fix this issue by
setting the same flag before calling raise_softirq_irqoff() and rename the
flag to defer_qs_pending for more common.
Affected products: vendor: Linux
product: Linux
default_status: unaffected
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
default_status: affected
Published: 2026-05-27T12:18:13.145Z