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Linux Kernel amdkfd: Use-after-free and mapping gap in kfd_dev_mapping

CVE-2026-98520High 7.8

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Summary

The AMD KFD (ROCm compute) driver in the Linux kernel caches the address_space of the first /dev/kfd opener, which can become a dangling pointer after that container exits. Under SR-IOV with multiple containers, later openers' mappings are not reached during a GPU reset. A local user with low privileges can trigger a hang in the GPU reset path, and stale doorbell and MMIO mappings may remain accessible.

Affected

  • Linux kernel with the drm/amdkfd component of amdgpu, from commit 70cadefcc6160c575b04f763ada34c20e868d577 up to fixes 02b74891624e09a5512c6d84f267d01fcc306a3b and c3a31087b1c8df679b653c1a09d9abe5ff7ec8ef (CNA data)
  • OSV: introduced in 7.2.0
  • Exact affected version ranges are not confirmed by the primary source; a third-party source cites up to 7.2.8

Fixed in

  • Fixed in stable commits 02b74891624e09a5512c6d84f267d01fcc306a3b and c3a31087b1c8df679b653c1a09d9abe5ff7ec8ef; mainline commit 1128b4a52de1572e87431de837fd9850cb99542c
  • OSV: fixed in 7.2.9
  • Distro package versions: Unknown.

Workaround

  • No vendor workaround published.
  • Interim measure: on hosts without ROCm or GPU compute, restrict or disable the amdgpu/amdkfd path and limit who can open /dev/kfd.

Exploitation

  • Exploited in the wild: no evidence found; CISA KEV status not checked.
  • Public proof of concept: none found.

Our recommendation

  • Check whether hosts use AMD GPUs for ROCm, AI/ML or SR-IOV workloads shared by several users or containers.
  • Install kernel updates containing the stable fixes as soon as your distribution provides them.
  • On hosts without AMD compute, restrict access to /dev/kfd or disable the amdkfd path.
  • Verify the final NVD score, as sources differ (7.8 supplied, 6.5 by Positive Technologies).

Public exploits

PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.

Research sources

Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 1 Nov 2026, 23:41.

Original description (NVD)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/amdkfd: fix use-after-free and multi-container gap in kfd_dev_mapping kfd_dev_mapping caches the address_space of the first /dev/kfd opener so that the GPU reset path can call unmap_mapping_range() to zap all userspace mappings of doorbell and MMIO ranges. This design has two bugs that both manifest under SRIOV with multiple containers: 1. Use-after-free / rwsem deadlock. The cached pointer refers to an inode owned by the first opener's container. When that container exits and its inode is released, kfd_dev_mapping becomes a dangling pointer. A subsequent GPU reset dereferences it inside unmap_mapping_range(), which takes i_mmap_rwsem on the freed inode, causing a hard hang observable as an uninterruptible rwsem wait. 2. Multi-container gap. Only the first opener's address_space is cached; VMAs created by later openers live in a different address_space and are never reached by unmap_mapping_range(). After a GPU reset those stale mappings keep doorbell and MMIO pages accessible to guest userspace with no GPU behind them, risking PCIe transaction timeouts and NMI panics. Fix both bugs with the same approach used by DRM core (drm_drv.c): create a private pseudo-filesystem at module init time and allocate one anonymous inode from it. In kfd_open() redirect every opener's file->f_mapping to that inode's address_space. The inode is module-owned, lives exactly as long as the amdgpu module, and collects VMAs from all openers in one address_space. A single unmap_mapping_range() call in the reset path then correctly reaches every container's mappings with no dangling pointer risk. The hang manifests as an NMI backtrace on the GPU reset workqueue stuck spinning in rwsem_down_read_slowpath() with a corrupted i_mmap_rwsem: Workqueue: amdgpu-reset-dev xgpu_ai_mailbox_flr_work [amdgpu] Call Trace: <TASK> kvm_wait+0x1f/0x40 __pv_queued_spin_lock_slowpath+0x31d/0x3a0 _raw_spin_lock_irq+0x51/0x80 rwsem_down_read_slowpath+0xb3/0x550 down_read+0x48/0xd0 unmap_mapping_range+0x71/0x140 kfd_dev_unmap_mapping_range+0x5b/0x140 [amdgpu] amdgpu_amdkfd_clear_kfd_mapping+0xd8/0x190 [amdgpu] amdgpu_device_gpu_recover+0x232/0x450 [amdgpu] xgpu_ai_mailbox_flr_work+0xb5/0xc0 [amdgpu] process_one_work+0x18e/0x3e0 worker_thread+0x2e3/0x420 kthread+0x10a/0x230 (cherry picked from commit 1128b4a52de1572e87431de837fd9850cb99542c)

NVD references (2)

Sources

The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:

This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.

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