---
id: CVE-2026-90129
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  virtio_balloon: quiesce balloon work before device shutdown

  Commit 8bd2fa086a04 ("virtio: break and reset virtio devices on
  device_shutdown()") added a generic virtio …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  virtio_balloon: quiesce balloon work before device shutdown

  Commit 8bd2fa086a04 ("virtio: break and reset virtio devices on
  device_shutdown()") added a generic virtio …
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203 <
    6dd28e32f4d81a0d57c732b9900de24184e60a7d
  - >-
    Linux >= 8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203 <
    bdef50a8226fc04899ef6815dd08a002247d47d5
  - >-
    Linux >= 8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203 <
    7e17eef04600c399c7e0f5ce765da5cf9d40d8e1
  - Linux aee42f3d57bfa37b2716df4584edeecf63b9df4c
  - Linux >= 6.14.9 < 6.15
  - Linux 6.15
published: '2026-09-17'
updated: '2026-09-17'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-17T17:17:05.370'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90129'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6dd28e32f4d81a0d57c732b9900de24184e60a7d'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e17eef04600c399c7e0f5ce765da5cf9d40d8e1'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdef50a8226fc04899ef6815dd08a002247d47d5'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-09-17T16:21:47.881Z'
epss: 0.00198
epssPercentile: 0.09841
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

virtio_balloon: quiesce balloon work before device shutdown

Commit 8bd2fa086a04 ("virtio: break and reset virtio devices on
device_shutdown()") added a generic virtio bus .shutdown handler that
breaks and resets every virtio device during device_shutdown(), i.e. on
reboot and kexec.

virtio_balloon provides no .shutdown of its own, so that generic path
runs while the balloon's asynchronous work is still armed. Once the
device has been broken, virtqueue_add_inbuf() in
virtballoon_free_page_report() returns -EIO and trips its
WARN_ON_ONCE(). On a kernel booted with panic_on_warn that turns an
ordinary reboot, for example a kexec based upgrade, into a fatal panic
in the middle of device_shutdown(), so the machine never reaches the
new kernel.

Relaxing that single WARN_ON_ONCE() would only hide the symptom: the
inflate/deflate and OOM paths do not warn, they call
wait_event(vb->acked, ...) and would instead block forever on a broken
queue that can no longer complete. The device has to be quiesced, not
just kept quiet.

Add a .shutdown handler that quiesces the balloon via the shared
virtballoon_quiesce() helper while the device is still alive, and only
then breaks and resets it via virtio_device_shutdown(). Unlike
virtballoon_remove() the balloon workqueue is not destroyed, as shutdown
does not free the device and cancel_work_sync() together with stop_update
already prevent any further work from being queued.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.