--- id: CVE-2026-72473 title: 'xprtrdma: Decouple req recycling from RPC completion' summary: |- In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xprtrdma: Decouple req recycling from RPC completion rl_kref formerly served two distinct lifetimes through a single refcount: 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' --- ## Overview In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xprtrdma: Decouple req recycling from RPC completion rl_kref formerly served two distinct lifetimes through a single refcount: it gated when a Reply could wake its RPC task, and it gated when an rpcrdma_req could return to its free pool. The marshal path took the Send-side reference only when SGEs needed DMA-unmap (sc_unmap_count > 0), which made a Send carrying only pre-registered buffers an exception: the Reply handler dropped rl_kref from 1 to 0 and freed the req while the HCA might still be DMA-reading from its send buffer. Give rl_kref a narrower job. The RPC layer takes one reference when slot allocation hands a req out. rpcrdma_prepare_send_sges() takes a Send-side reference unconditionally after WR preparation succeeds. xprt_rdma_free_slot() and xprt_rdma_bc_free_rqst() drop the RPC-layer reference; rpcrdma_sendctx_unmap() drops the Send-side reference. The req returns to its free pool only after both owners have signed off. The existing kref_init(&req->rl_kref) call in rpcrdma_prepare_send_sges() is removed. Initialization moves to the slot-allocation paths (xprt_rdma_alloc_slot and rpcrdma_bc_rqst_get), and the release callback re-arms rl_kref before the req returns to a free pool. A re-init in the marshal path would discard the RPC-layer reference that already exists on entry. Three invariants follow: - Any rpcrdma_req held by an rpc_rqst has rl_kref >= 1. xprt_rdma_alloc_slot(), rpcrdma_bc_rqst_get(), and the backlog-wake branch in xprt_rdma_alloc_slot() each kref_init rl_kref before publishing the req. Without this invariant, an RPC task that aborts between slot allocation and marshal (gss_refresh failure or signal during call_connect, for example) would drive xprt_release() -> xprt_rdma_free_slot() -> kref_put against a refcount of zero, saturating refcount_t and stranding the slot. - The Send-side reference is taken only after WR prep succeeds. A mapping failure in rpcrdma_prepare_send_sges() runs rpcrdma_sendctx_cancel(), which DMA-unmaps the sendctx and clears sc_req without touching rl_kref. The sendctx ring walks in rpcrdma_sendctx_put_locked() and rpcrdma_sendctxs_destroy() skip entries with sc_req == NULL, so a burst of -EIO marshal failures cannot hold reqs off rb_send_bufs. - The release callback re-arms rl_kref so the next consumer enters with the invariant satisfied. Replies now complete the RPC directly. rpcrdma_reply_handler() calls rpcrdma_complete_rqst() in place of kref_put on the non-LocalInv branch. The LocalInv branch already completes the RPC from frwr_unmap_async() and is unaffected. Because Send-side references can now outlive RPC completion, connection teardown drains sendctx entries whose unsignaled Sends never had a later signaled completion to walk the ring. rpcrdma_sendctxs_destroy() walks the active range and runs rpcrdma_sendctx_unmap() on each entry with a non-NULL sc_req before the request buffers are reset, and is moved ahead of rpcrdma_reqs_reset() in rpcrdma_xprt_disconnect() so the reqs are still in their pre-reset state when the Send-side refs are released. The drain creates a teardown-ordering hazard on the backchannel path. With the new lifetime, releasing a bc_prealloc req from rpcrdma_req_release() re-adds it to bc_pa_list. The disconnect in xprt_rdma_destroy() runs after xprt_destroy_backchannel() has already emptied bc_pa_list, so the drained reqs would otherwise leak. xprt_rdma_destroy() now runs xprt_rdma_bc_destroy(xprt, 0) a second time after the disconnect to reclaim them. ## Affected - `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 740975054a1970c0cf15f70ac39724a064f45847` - `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 9f3d9b68c1c6c51746e5ecdb52b2e6a2901de37e` - `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < e7632089523acddcdd8f090ad19e96fb3107b04d` - `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 53442c7d0c888e51b8bc3da196970a669cc6b294` - `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < 8203f760a72bd39a3b66bc4eff0aa272a99fe22b` - `Linux >= 0ab115237025f5e379620bbcd56a02697d07b002 < e786233d2e0bbff9a82e43f02ae3a46ab4b08ec3` - `Linux 5.3` ## Remediation Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.