Ioctl hang via false fault success
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
An infinite loop in Linux lib/test_hmm.c allows local users to hang a read or write ioctl after the mirrored address space exits. The dmirror_fault() function returns success when mmget_not_zero() fails, leaving the device page table entry absent and causing the caller to retry the same address indefinitely. Reachability requires access to the HMM test driver's device interface; the documented consequence is a non-progressing ioctl, not a demonstrated system crash.
Summary
What happened
An infinite loop in Linux lib/test_hmm.c allows local users to hang a read or write ioctl after the mirrored address space exits. The dmirror_fault() function returns success when mmget_not_zero() fails, leaving the device page table entry absent and causing the caller to retry the same address indefinitely. Reachability requires access to the HMM test driver's device interface; the documented consequence is a non-progressing ioctl, not a demonstrated system crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90391
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 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=5.8
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <2636569ea7c19d9a40db4a1e8d0a027bdacf1569
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <50606ced303782f8715e2d0b98ca374ea498fa29
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <541a67f21ab807c8dbc0ea88d5a2eb73b2618090
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <6a8024511ddf4877435c34fb3d6028aa8e590649
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <701347e31aa607f3782403151a3125729d685275
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <a2074f86fc9653831e4fb7b711bb715db330f182
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <af7a6d6ec36a16a583ba2e4e9984c3cf1fe34655
- Affected versionversion=b2ef9f5a5cb37643ca5def3516c546457074b882 <d8e64ffab01e032ae29159d27230ace8cf8bdc80
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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
Get started to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Get started