In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
cgroup: Defer css percpu_ref kill on rmdir until cgroup is depopulated
A chain of commits going back to v7.0 reworked rmdir to satisfy the
controller invariant that a subsystem's ->css_offline() must not run while
tasks are still doing kernel-side work in the cgroup.
[1] d245698d727a ("cgroup: Defer task cgroup unlink until after the task is done switching out")
[2] a72f73c4dd9b ("cgroup: Don't expose dead tasks in cgroup")
[3] 1b164b876c36 ("cgroup: Wait for dying tasks to leave on rmdir")
[4] 4c56a8ac6869 ("cgroup: Fix cgroup_drain_dying() testing the wrong condition")
[5] 13e786b64bd3 ("cgroup: Increment nr_dying_subsys_* from rmdir context")
[1] moved task cset unlink from do_exit() to finish_task_switch() so a
task's cset link drops only after the task has fully stopped scheduling.
That made tasks past exit_signals() linger on cset->tasks until their final
context switch, which led to a series of problems as what userspace expected
to see after rmdir diverged from what the kernel needs to wait for. [2]-[5]
tried to bridge that divergence: [2] filtered the exiting tasks from
cgroup.procs; [3] had rmdir(2) sleep in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE for them; [4]
fixed the wait's condition; [5] made nr_dying_subsys_* visible
synchronously.
The cgroup_drain_dying() wait in [3] turned out to be a dead end. When the
rmdir caller is also the reaper of a zombie that pins a pidns teardown (e.g.
host PID 1 systemd reaping orphan pids that were re-parented to it during
the same teardown), rmdir blocks in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE waiting for those
pids to free, the pids can't free because PID 1 is the reaper and it's stuck
in rmdir, and the system A-A deadlocks. No internal lock ordering breaks
this; the wait itself is the bug.
The css killing side that drove the original reorder, however, can be made
cleanly asynchronous: ->css_offline() is already async, run from
css_killed_work_fn() driven by percpu_ref_kill_and_confirm(). The fix is to
make that chain start only after all tasks have left the cgroup. rmdir's
user-visible side then returns as soon as cgroup.procs and friends are
empty, while ->css_offline() still runs only after the cgroup is fully
drained.
Verified by the original reproducer (pidns teardown + zombie reaper, runs
under vng) which hangs vanilla and succeeds here, and by per-commit
deterministic repros for [2], [3], [4], [5] with a boot parameter that
widens the post-exit_signals() window so each state is reliably reachable.
Some stress tests on top of that.
cgroup_apply_control_disable() has the same shape of pre-existing race:
when a controller is disabled via subtree_control, kill_css() ran
synchronously while tasks past exit_signals() could still be linked to
the cgroup's csets, and ->css_offline() could fire before they drained.
This patch preserves the existing synchronous behavior at that call site
(kill_css_sync() + kill_css_finish() back-to-back) and a follow-up patch
will defer kill_css_finish() there using a per-css trigger.
This seems like the right approach and I don't see problems with it. The
changes are somewhat invasive but not excessively so, so backporting to
-stable should be okay. If something does turn out to be wrong, the fallback
is to revert the entire chain ([1]-[5]) and rework in the development branch
instead.
v2: Pin cgrp across the deferred destroy work with explicit
cgroup_get()/cgroup_put() around queue_work() and the work_fn. v1
wasn't actually broken (ordered cgroup_offline_wq + queue_work order
in cgroup_task_dead() saved it) but the explicit ref removes the
dependency on those non-obvious invariants. Also note the
pre-existing cgroup_apply_control_disable() race in the description;
a follow-up will defer kill_css_finish() there.
cgroup: Defer css percpu_ref kill on rmdir until cgroup is depopulated
A chain of commits going back to v7.0 reworked rmdir to satisfy the
controller invariant that a subsystem's ->css_offline() must not run while
tasks are still doing kernel-side work in the cgroup.
[1] d245698d727a ("cgroup: Defer task cgroup unlink until after the task is done switching out")
[2] a72f73c4dd9b ("cgroup: Don't expose dead tasks in cgroup")
[3] 1b164b876c36 ("cgroup: Wait for dying tasks to leave on rmdir")
[4] 4c56a8ac6869 ("cgroup: Fix cgroup_drain_dying() testing the wrong condition")
[5] 13e786b64bd3 ("cgroup: Increment nr_dying_subsys_* from rmdir context")
[1] moved task cset unlink from do_exit() to finish_task_switch() so a
task's cset link drops only after the task has fully stopped scheduling.
That made tasks past exit_signals() linger on cset->tasks until their final
context switch, which led to a series of problems as what userspace expected
to see after rmdir diverged from what the kernel needs to wait for. [2]-[5]
tried to bridge that divergence: [2] filtered the exiting tasks from
cgroup.procs; [3] had rmdir(2) sleep in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE for them; [4]
fixed the wait's condition; [5] made nr_dying_subsys_* visible
synchronously.
The cgroup_drain_dying() wait in [3] turned out to be a dead end. When the
rmdir caller is also the reaper of a zombie that pins a pidns teardown (e.g.
host PID 1 systemd reaping orphan pids that were re-parented to it during
the same teardown), rmdir blocks in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE waiting for those
pids to free, the pids can't free because PID 1 is the reaper and it's stuck
in rmdir, and the system A-A deadlocks. No internal lock ordering breaks
this; the wait itself is the bug.
The css killing side that drove the original reorder, however, can be made
cleanly asynchronous: ->css_offline() is already async, run from
css_killed_work_fn() driven by percpu_ref_kill_and_confirm(). The fix is to
make that chain start only after all tasks have left the cgroup. rmdir's
user-visible side then returns as soon as cgroup.procs and friends are
empty, while ->css_offline() still runs only after the cgroup is fully
drained.
Verified by the original reproducer (pidns teardown + zombie reaper, runs
under vng) which hangs vanilla and succeeds here, and by per-commit
deterministic repros for [2], [3], [4], [5] with a boot parameter that
widens the post-exit_signals() window so each state is reliably reachable.
Some stress tests on top of that.
cgroup_apply_control_disable() has the same shape of pre-existing race:
when a controller is disabled via subtree_control, kill_css() ran
synchronously while tasks past exit_signals() could still be linked to
the cgroup's csets, and ->css_offline() could fire before they drained.
This patch preserves the existing synchronous behavior at that call site
(kill_css_sync() + kill_css_finish() back-to-back) and a follow-up patch
will defer kill_css_finish() there using a per-css trigger.
This seems like the right approach and I don't see problems with it. The
changes are somewhat invasive but not excessively so, so backporting to
-stable should be okay. If something does turn out to be wrong, the fallback
is to revert the entire chain ([1]-[5]) and rework in the development branch
instead.
v2: Pin cgrp across the deferred destroy work with explicit
cgroup_get()/cgroup_put() around queue_work() and the work_fn. v1
wasn't actually broken (ordered cgroup_offline_wq + queue_work order
in cgroup_task_dead() saved it) but the explicit ref removes the
dependency on those non-obvious invariants. Also note the
pre-existing cgroup_apply_control_disable() race in the description;
a follow-up will defer kill_css_finish() there.
Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).
| Vendor | Product | Default status | Versions | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | unaffected |
|
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| Linux | Linux | affected |
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Fixes
Solution
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Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Thu, 28 May 2026 10:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cgroup: Defer css percpu_ref kill on rmdir until cgroup is depopulated A chain of commits going back to v7.0 reworked rmdir to satisfy the controller invariant that a subsystem's ->css_offline() must not run while tasks are still doing kernel-side work in the cgroup. [1] d245698d727a ("cgroup: Defer task cgroup unlink until after the task is done switching out") [2] a72f73c4dd9b ("cgroup: Don't expose dead tasks in cgroup") [3] 1b164b876c36 ("cgroup: Wait for dying tasks to leave on rmdir") [4] 4c56a8ac6869 ("cgroup: Fix cgroup_drain_dying() testing the wrong condition") [5] 13e786b64bd3 ("cgroup: Increment nr_dying_subsys_* from rmdir context") [1] moved task cset unlink from do_exit() to finish_task_switch() so a task's cset link drops only after the task has fully stopped scheduling. That made tasks past exit_signals() linger on cset->tasks until their final context switch, which led to a series of problems as what userspace expected to see after rmdir diverged from what the kernel needs to wait for. [2]-[5] tried to bridge that divergence: [2] filtered the exiting tasks from cgroup.procs; [3] had rmdir(2) sleep in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE for them; [4] fixed the wait's condition; [5] made nr_dying_subsys_* visible synchronously. The cgroup_drain_dying() wait in [3] turned out to be a dead end. When the rmdir caller is also the reaper of a zombie that pins a pidns teardown (e.g. host PID 1 systemd reaping orphan pids that were re-parented to it during the same teardown), rmdir blocks in TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE waiting for those pids to free, the pids can't free because PID 1 is the reaper and it's stuck in rmdir, and the system A-A deadlocks. No internal lock ordering breaks this; the wait itself is the bug. The css killing side that drove the original reorder, however, can be made cleanly asynchronous: ->css_offline() is already async, run from css_killed_work_fn() driven by percpu_ref_kill_and_confirm(). The fix is to make that chain start only after all tasks have left the cgroup. rmdir's user-visible side then returns as soon as cgroup.procs and friends are empty, while ->css_offline() still runs only after the cgroup is fully drained. Verified by the original reproducer (pidns teardown + zombie reaper, runs under vng) which hangs vanilla and succeeds here, and by per-commit deterministic repros for [2], [3], [4], [5] with a boot parameter that widens the post-exit_signals() window so each state is reliably reachable. Some stress tests on top of that. cgroup_apply_control_disable() has the same shape of pre-existing race: when a controller is disabled via subtree_control, kill_css() ran synchronously while tasks past exit_signals() could still be linked to the cgroup's csets, and ->css_offline() could fire before they drained. This patch preserves the existing synchronous behavior at that call site (kill_css_sync() + kill_css_finish() back-to-back) and a follow-up patch will defer kill_css_finish() there using a per-css trigger. This seems like the right approach and I don't see problems with it. The changes are somewhat invasive but not excessively so, so backporting to -stable should be okay. If something does turn out to be wrong, the fallback is to revert the entire chain ([1]-[5]) and rework in the development branch instead. v2: Pin cgrp across the deferred destroy work with explicit cgroup_get()/cgroup_put() around queue_work() and the work_fn. v1 wasn't actually broken (ordered cgroup_offline_wq + queue_work order in cgroup_task_dead() saved it) but the explicit ref removes the dependency on those non-obvious invariants. Also note the pre-existing cgroup_apply_control_disable() race in the description; a follow-up will defer kill_css_finish() there. | |
| Title | cgroup: Defer css percpu_ref kill on rmdir until cgroup is depopulated | |
| First Time appeared |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| CPEs | cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | |
| Vendors & Products |
Linux
Linux linux Kernel |
|
| References |
|
Projects
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MITRE
Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Linux
Published:
Updated: 2026-05-28T09:40:40.791Z
Reserved: 2026-05-13T15:03:33.106Z
Link: CVE-2026-46223
Vulnrichment
No data.
NVD
Status : Received
Published: 2026-05-28T10:16:37.913
Modified: 2026-05-28T10:16:37.913
Link: CVE-2026-46223
Redhat
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
No weakness.