CVE-2026-90129
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.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
6.14.9,
6.15
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.18.52,
7.2.6,
7.3-rc1
and their respective stable series.
References
3 totalFrequently asked questions
-
What is CVE-2026-90129?
CVE-2026-90129 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.14.9 onward and has been patched in 6.18.52, 7.2.6 and 7.3-rc1. CVE-2026-90129 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
-
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-90129?
Yes. CVE-2026-90129 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.52, 7.2.6 and 7.3-rc1. If you are running Linux kernel 6.14.9 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
-
Is CVE-2026-90129 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-90129 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.