{"id":"CVE-2026-72473","title":"xprtrdma: Decouple req recycling from RPC completion","summary":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxprtrdma: Decouple req recycling from RPC completion\n\nrl_kref formerly served two distinct lifetimes through a single\nrefcount: it gated when a Reply could wake its RPC…","severity":"critical","cvss":9.8,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvssSource":"cna","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","affected":["Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 740975054a1970c0cf15f70ac39724a064f45847","Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 9f3d9b68c1c6c51746e5ecdb52b2e6a2901de37e","Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < e7632089523acddcdd8f090ad19e96fb3107b04d","Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 53442c7d0c888e51b8bc3da196970a669cc6b294","Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 8203f760a72bd39a3b66bc4eff0aa272a99fe22b","Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < e786233d2e0bbff9a82e43f02ae3a46ab4b08ec3","Linux 5.3"],"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"yes","technicalImpact":"total","timestamp":"2026-10-16T18:50:33.438850Z"},"published":"2026-08-15","updated":"2026-10-16","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-16T18:55:25.751Z","source":"CVEORG","sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72473","references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/740975054a1970c0cf15f70ac39724a064f45847"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f3d9b68c1c6c51746e5ecdb52b2e6a2901de37e"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e7632089523acddcdd8f090ad19e96fb3107b04d"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/53442c7d0c888e51b8bc3da196970a669cc6b294"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8203f760a72bd39a3b66bc4eff0aa272a99fe22b"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e786233d2e0bbff9a82e43f02ae3a46ab4b08ec3"}],"tags":["cve.org"],"epss":0.00721,"epssPercentile":0.53011,"ingestedAt":"2026-10-16T19:46:24.392Z","slug":"CVE-2026-72473","body":"## Overview\n\nIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxprtrdma: Decouple req recycling from RPC completion\n\nrl_kref formerly served two distinct lifetimes through a single\nrefcount: it gated when a Reply could wake its RPC task, and it\ngated when an rpcrdma_req could return to its free pool. The\nmarshal path took the Send-side reference only when SGEs needed\nDMA-unmap (sc_unmap_count > 0), which made a Send carrying only\npre-registered buffers an exception: the Reply handler dropped\nrl_kref from 1 to 0 and freed the req while the HCA might still\nbe DMA-reading from its send buffer.\n\nGive rl_kref a narrower job. The RPC layer takes one reference\nwhen slot allocation hands a req out. rpcrdma_prepare_send_sges()\ntakes a Send-side reference unconditionally after WR preparation\nsucceeds. xprt_rdma_free_slot() and xprt_rdma_bc_free_rqst() drop\nthe RPC-layer reference; rpcrdma_sendctx_unmap() drops the\nSend-side reference. The req returns to its free pool only after\nboth owners have signed off.\n\nThe existing kref_init(&req->rl_kref) call in\nrpcrdma_prepare_send_sges() is removed. Initialization moves to\nthe slot-allocation paths (xprt_rdma_alloc_slot and\nrpcrdma_bc_rqst_get), and the release callback re-arms rl_kref\nbefore the req returns to a free pool. A re-init in the marshal\npath would discard the RPC-layer reference that already exists\non entry.\n\nThree invariants follow:\n\n  - Any rpcrdma_req held by an rpc_rqst has rl_kref >= 1.\n    xprt_rdma_alloc_slot(), rpcrdma_bc_rqst_get(), and the\n    backlog-wake branch in xprt_rdma_alloc_slot() each kref_init\n    rl_kref before publishing the req. Without this invariant,\n    an RPC task that aborts between slot allocation and marshal\n    (gss_refresh failure or signal during call_connect, for\n    example) would drive xprt_release() ->\n    xprt_rdma_free_slot() -> kref_put against a refcount of\n    zero, saturating refcount_t and stranding the slot.\n\n  - The Send-side reference is taken only after WR prep\n    succeeds. A mapping failure in rpcrdma_prepare_send_sges()\n    runs rpcrdma_sendctx_cancel(), which DMA-unmaps the sendctx\n    and clears sc_req without touching rl_kref. The sendctx\n    ring walks in rpcrdma_sendctx_put_locked() and\n    rpcrdma_sendctxs_destroy() skip entries with sc_req == NULL,\n    so a burst of -EIO marshal failures cannot hold reqs off\n    rb_send_bufs.\n\n  - The release callback re-arms rl_kref so the next consumer\n    enters with the invariant satisfied.\n\nReplies now complete the RPC directly. rpcrdma_reply_handler()\ncalls rpcrdma_complete_rqst() in place of kref_put on the\nnon-LocalInv branch. The LocalInv branch already completes the\nRPC from frwr_unmap_async() and is unaffected.\n\nBecause Send-side references can now outlive RPC completion,\nconnection teardown drains sendctx entries whose unsignaled\nSends never had a later signaled completion to walk the ring.\nrpcrdma_sendctxs_destroy() walks the active range and runs\nrpcrdma_sendctx_unmap() on each entry with a non-NULL sc_req\nbefore the request buffers are reset, and is moved ahead of\nrpcrdma_reqs_reset() in rpcrdma_xprt_disconnect() so the reqs\nare still in their pre-reset state when the Send-side refs are\nreleased.\n\nThe drain creates a teardown-ordering hazard on the backchannel\npath. With the new lifetime, releasing a bc_prealloc req from\nrpcrdma_req_release() re-adds it to bc_pa_list. The disconnect\nin xprt_rdma_destroy() runs after xprt_destroy_backchannel() has\nalready emptied bc_pa_list, so the drained reqs would otherwise\nleak. xprt_rdma_destroy() now runs xprt_rdma_bc_destroy(xprt, 0)\na second time after the disconnect to reclaim them.\n\n## Affected\n\n- `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 740975054a1970c0cf15f70ac39724a064f45847`\n- `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 9f3d9b68c1c6c51746e5ecdb52b2e6a2901de37e`\n- `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < e7632089523acddcdd8f090ad19e96fb3107b04d`\n- `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 53442c7d0c888e51b8bc3da196970a669cc6b294`\n- `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 8203f760a72bd39a3b66bc4eff0aa272a99fe22b`\n- `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < e786233d2e0bbff9a82e43f02ae3a46ab4b08ec3`\n- `Linux 5.3`\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"midnight","depthScore":54,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":53.9,"likelihood":0.1,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}