published August 15, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: Fix NMI/tracepoint re-entry deadlock on lru locks
NMI and tracepoint BPF programs can re-enter the per-CPU or global
LRU lock that bpf_lru_pop_free()/push_free() already hold on the
same CPU, AA-deadlocking. Lockdep reports "inconsistent
{INITIAL USE} -> {IN-NMI}" on &l->lock (syzbot c69a0a2c816716f1e0d5)
and "possible recursive locking detected" on &loc_l->lock (syzbot
18b26edb69b2e19f3b33).
Prior trylock and rqspinlock based fixes (see links) were nacked
because compromised on reliability.
This patch converts every LRU lock site to rqspinlock_t and adds a
recovery path for some failure windows to avoid node leaks.
Failure recovery:
- *_pop_free top-level: return NULL; prealloc_lru_pop() already
treats that as no-free-element (-ENOMEM).
- Cross-CPU steal: skip the victim's locked loc_l, try next CPU.
- Post-steal local lock fail: publish stolen node to lockless
per-CPU free_llist; next pop on this CPU picks it up.
- push_free fail: mark node pending_free=1. __local_list_flush(),
__local_list_pop_pending() reclaim the node from pending_list.
__bpf_lru_list_shrink_inactive() reclaims the node from inactive
list. Nodes from active list are reclaimed by __bpf_lru_list_shrink()
or after __bpf_lru_list_rotate_active() demotes it to the inactive.