UBUNTU-CVE-2026-99262: Medium severity ubuntu/linux vulnerability
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iouring/timeout: don't lose a cancel as io-wq arms a timeout An IORINGOPTIMEOUT run by io-wq, because of IOSQEASYNC, has the same problem as poll, futex and waitid. iowqsubmitwork() looks at IOWQWORKCANCEL once, before it issues the request. A cancel in between flags the work, gets -EALREADY, and searches ->timeoutlist in vain, while the worker then adds the request and starts the timer: io-wq worker iotrycancel() iowqsubmitwork() IOWQWORKCANCEL isn't set ioasynccancelone() sets IOWQWORKCANCEL = -EALREADY iotimeoutcancel() = -ENOENT iotimeout() adds the request to ->timeoutlist hrtimerstart() = IOUISSUESKIPCOMPLETE Nobody looks at the flag again, and the timeout runs its course. At ring exit, iouringtrycancelrequests() cancels io-wq work and then kills the timeouts the same way, so an exiting task can get stuck for the full duration of such a timeout. Look at the flag under ->timeoutlock, which the search takes as well, and fail the request if it is set. If the search came first, the flag is visible. If it comes later, it finds the request on the list.
Affected Software
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
What conditions are required to trigger this issue?
The issue requires an io_uring timeout request to be run asynchronously through io-wq, such as when IORING_OP_TIMEOUT uses IOSQE_ASYNC. A cancellation must race with the worker submitting and arming that timeout.
What is the practical impact of a successful race?
The cancellation can return -EALREADY while failing to find the timeout, after which the worker arms it anyway. The timeout then runs until its configured duration expires; during ring exit, this can leave the exiting task stuck for that full duration.
Which Ubuntu kernel packages are listed as affected?
The listed software includes ubuntu/linux, ubuntu/linux-fips, ubuntu/linux-aws, ubuntu/linux-azure, ubuntu/linux-gcp, ubuntu/linux-oracle, ubuntu/linux-aws-fips, and ubuntu/linux-azure-fips.