Block I/O hang via nested queue freezing
Published Jan 14, 2026 · Updated Jan 14, 2026
Improper locking in Linux Kernel 6.11 through 6.18.2 allows local users to hang block I/O by changing queue sysfs settings. The affected store callbacks freeze the request queue while dm-multipath can hold a conflicting lock, leaving each path waiting on the other. Reachability requires dm-multipath with queue_if_no_path and permission to write io_poll_delay, io_timeout, nomerges, read_ahead_kb, or rq_affinity; the bounded consequence is an I/O deadlock.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in Linux Kernel 6.11 through 6.18.2 allows local users to hang block I/O by changing queue sysfs settings. The affected store callbacks freeze the request queue while dm-multipath can hold a conflicting lock, leaving each path waiting on the other. Reachability requires dm-multipath with queue_if_no_path and permission to write io_poll_delay, io_timeout, nomerges, read_ahead_kb, or rq_affinity; the bounded consequence is an I/O deadlock.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-71117
- Published
- Jan 14, 2026
- Updated
- Jan 14, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 14, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.11
- Affected versionversion=af2814149883e2c1851866ea2afcd8eadc040f79 <3997b3147c7b68b0308378fa95a766015f8ceb1c
- Affected versionversion=af2814149883e2c1851866ea2afcd8eadc040f79 <935a20d1bebf6236076785fac3ff81e3931834e9
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo