CVE-2026-90129
Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.
Description
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.
View original CVE JSON
{
"id": "CVE-2026-90129",
"sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"published": "2026-09-17T17:17:05.370",
"lastModified": "2026-10-30T13:20:42.647",
"vulnStatus": "Received",
"cveTags": [],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nvirtio_balloon: quiesce balloon work before device shutdown\n\nCommit 8bd2fa086a04 (\"virtio: break and reset virtio devices on\ndevice_shutdown()\") added a generic virtio bus .shutdown handler that\nbreaks and resets every virtio device during device_shutdown(), i.e. on\nreboot and kexec.\n\nvirtio_balloon provides no .shutdown of its own, so that generic path\nruns while the balloon's asynchronous work is still armed. Once the\ndevice has been broken, virtqueue_add_inbuf() in\nvirtballoon_free_page_report() returns -EIO and trips its\nWARN_ON_ONCE(). On a kernel booted with panic_on_warn that turns an\nordinary reboot, for example a kexec based upgrade, into a fatal panic\nin the middle of device_shutdown(), so the machine never reaches the\nnew kernel.\n\nRelaxing that single WARN_ON_ONCE() would only hide the symptom: the\ninflate/deflate and OOM paths do not warn, they call\nwait_event(vb->acked, ...) and would instead block forever on a broken\nqueue that can no longer complete. The device has to be quiesced, not\njust kept quiet.\n\nAdd a .shutdown handler that quiesces the balloon via the shared\nvirtballoon_quiesce() helper while the device is still alive, and only\nthen breaks and resets it via virtio_device_shutdown(). Unlike\nvirtballoon_remove() the balloon workqueue is not destroyed, as shutdown\ndoes not free the device and cancel_work_sync() together with stop_update\nalready prevent any further work from being queued."
}
],
"affected": [
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"affectedData": [
{
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"versions": [
{
"version": "8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203",
"lessThan": "6dd28e32f4d81a0d57c732b9900de24184e60a7d",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203",
"lessThan": "bdef50a8226fc04899ef6815dd08a002247d47d5",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203",
"lessThan": "7e17eef04600c399c7e0f5ce765da5cf9d40d8e1",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "0c03e32494dd0bbcc301523e5ae567c2f567a7d9",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "acdfe206be6c70ec55dc8bfdb1a22036d10fae26",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "1eaa83fd94ed5e40d43139025f5acb7bcfed3b5f",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "aee42f3d57bfa37b2716df4584edeecf63b9df4c",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "6.1.191",
"lessThan": "6.2",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "6.6.160",
"lessThan": "6.7",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "6.12.114",
"lessThan": "6.13",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "6.14.9",
"lessThan": "6.15",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "affected"
}
]
},
{
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"versions": [
{
"version": "6.15",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "0",
"lessThan": "6.15",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "6.18.52",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "7.2.6",
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "7.3",
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
"status": "unaffected"
}
]
}
]
}
],
"metrics": {},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6dd28e32f4d81a0d57c732b9900de24184e60a7d",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7e17eef04600c399c7e0f5ce765da5cf9d40d8e1",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdef50a8226fc04899ef6815dd08a002247d47d5",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}
]
}