Linux Kernel up to 6.18.5/6.19-rc4 list_lru spin_lock deadlock

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.5/6.19-rc4. Affected by this issue is the function spin_lock of the component list_lru. This manipulation causes deadlock. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-71181. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.5/6.19-rc4 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function spin_lock of the component list_lru. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a deadlock vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-833. The product contains multiple threads or executable segments that are waiting for each other to release a necessary lock, resulting in deadlock. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rust_binder: remove spin_lock() in rust_shrink_free_page() When forward-porting Rust Binder to 6.18, I neglected to take commit fb56fdf8b9a2 ("mm/list_lru: split the lock to per-cgroup scope") into account, and apparently I did not end up running the shrinker callback when I sanity tested the driver before submission. This leads to crashes like the following: ============================================ WARNING: possible recursive locking detected 6.18.0-mainline-maybe-dirty #1 Tainted: G IO -------------------------------------------- kswapd0/68 is trying to acquire lock: ffff956000fa18b0 (&l->lock){+.+.}-{2:2}, at: lock_list_lru_of_memcg+0x128/0x230 but task is already holding lock: ffff956000fa18b0 (&l->lock){+.+.}-{2:2}, at: rust_helper_spin_lock+0xd/0x20 other info that might help us debug this: Possible unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 ---- lock(&l->lock); lock(&l->lock); *** DEADLOCK *** May be due to missing lock nesting notation 3 locks held by kswapd0/68: #0: ffffffff90d2e260 (fs_reclaim){+.+.}-{0:0}, at: kswapd+0x597/0x1160 #1: ffff956000fa18b0 (&l->lock){+.+.}-{2:2}, at: rust_helper_spin_lock+0xd/0x20 #2: ffffffff90cf3680 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:2}, at: lock_list_lru_of_memcg+0x2d/0x230 To fix this, remove the spin_lock() call from rust_shrink_free_page().

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-71181 since 01/31/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 297478 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2025-71181), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.18.6 or 6.19-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 30a98c97f7874031f2e1de19c777ce011143cba4/361e0ff456a8daf9753c18030533256e4133ce7a is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (297478), EUVD (EUVD-2025-206594) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0280). If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.19-rc1
• 6.19-rc2
• 6.19-rc3
• 6.19-rc4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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