Linux Kernel up to 6.12.108/6.18.49/7.2.3 Ceph ceph_cap_reclaim_work infinite loop

| CVSS Meta Temp Score | Current Exploit Price (≈) | CTI Interest Score |
|---|---|---|
| 6.2 | $0-$5k | 0.41+ |
Summary
A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.108/6.18.49/7.2.3. The affected element is the function ceph_cap_reclaim_work of the component Ceph. Executing a manipulation can lead to infinite loop.
This vulnerability appears as CVE-2026-89647. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit.
The affected component should be upgraded.
Details
A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.108/6.18.49/7.2.3. This vulnerability affects the function ceph_cap_reclaim_work of the component Ceph. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a infinite loop vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-835. The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ceph: do not repeat ceph_trim_dentries() if no progress possible ceph_cap_reclaim_work() re-queues itself for as long as ceph_trim_dentries() returns -EAGAIN, which happens whenever a lease walk exhausts its `nr_to_scan` budget. This creates a busy loop that consumes CPU without making any progress when there is nothing to reclaim: with no cap pressure (`count==0`) and every scanned lease still valid, each pass runs the full scan budget down to zero and returns `-EAGAIN`, only to be queued again immediately. The dir-lease walk made this worse. When `expire_dir_lease` is `false` (i.e. we have no intention of reclaiming dir leases), __dir_lease_check() returned `TOUCH` for every valid lease. `TOUCH` moves the dentry to the tail of the list and resets `di->time` via __dentry_dir_lease_touch(), so a walk over N valid leases pointlessly rewrote the list, refreshed the timestamps (preventing them from ever aging out) and always drained `nr_to_scan`, guaranteeing the `-EAGAIN` requeue. Fix this in three steps: - Return `KEEP` instead of `TOUCH` when `expire_dir_lease` is `false`. If we are not going to reclaim the lease, leave it in place instead of churning the list and resetting its timestamp; the walk then terminates naturally (or via `STOP` at the first fresh lease). - Only return `-EAGAIN` from the first (dentry-lease) walk when something was actually freed. A full batch that frees nothing means retrying the same list immediately is futile; fall through to the dir-lease walk instead. - After both walks, bail out with success (0) when nothing was freed and there is no cap pressure (`count==0`). There is no reason to keep retrying when we are not over the cap limit and made no progress. Under real cap pressure (`count>0`) the reclaim path is unchanged and still retries via `-EAGAIN`. Without this patch, I saw 500 ceph_trim_dentries() calls per second on our web servers. This is very visible in `/proc/lock_stat` (5 minute capture): class name con-bounces contentions waittime-min waittime-max waittime-total waittime-avg acq-bounces acquisitions holdtime-min holdtime-max holdtime-total holdtime-avg &mdsc->dentry_list_lock: 126180 128218 0.04 8063.44 15986965.20 124.69 1573354 5296812 0.04 8291.28 74164526.48 14.00 ----------------------- &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 111736 [<000000007b11e319>] __ceph_dentry_dir_lease_touch+0x7c/0xa8 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 2631 [<0000000050597999>] __dentry_leases_walk+0x64/0x2c8 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 3878 [<00000000c0022f62>] __ceph_dentry_lease_touch+0x5c/0xa8 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 9973 [<000000002f27cb6f>] __dentry_lease_unlist+0x50/0xa0 ----------------------- &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 123621 [<0000000050597999>] __dentry_leases_walk+0x64/0x2c8 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 1822 [<000000007b11e319>] __ceph_dentry_dir_lease_touch+0x7c/0xa8 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 2720 [<000000002f27cb6f>] __dentry_lease_unlist+0x50/0xa0 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 55 [<00000000c0022f62>] __ceph_dentry_lease_touch+0x5c/0xa8 With this patch: class name con-bounces contentions waittime-min waittime-max waittime-total waittime-avg acq-bounces acquisitions holdtime-min holdtime-max holdtime-total holdtime-avg &mdsc->dentry_list_lock: 1203 1215 0.16 408.88 33082.88 27.23 4320501 7357389 0.04 500.64 1961578.00 0.27 ----------------------- &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 1029 [<000000003c9aea8a>] __ceph_dentry_dir_lease_touch+0x7c/0xa8 &mdsc->dentry_list_lock 1 ---truncated---
The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-89647 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/12/2026). This vulnerability is assigned to T1499 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.
Upgrading to version 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 7.2.4 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 5a541eb401acb89d791da41189d7a79220164b93/37d6edb2f03b29399a3a337fae78674de51e1695/3d122b2feb1dd76bb5041bdea5e1e1b007d8d415/e7d7aa7b730178278109c41fa1b17b06873065d5 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.
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Product
Type
Vendor
Name
Version
- 6.12.108
- 6.18.0
- 6.18.1
- 6.18.2
- 6.18.3
- 6.18.4
- 6.18.5
- 6.18.6
- 6.18.7
- 6.18.8
- 6.18.9
- 6.18.10
- 6.18.11
- 6.18.12
- 6.18.13
- 6.18.14
- 6.18.15
- 6.18.16
- 6.18.17
- 6.18.18
- 6.18.19
- 6.18.20
- 6.18.21
- 6.18.22
- 6.18.23
- 6.18.24
- 6.18.25
- 6.18.26
- 6.18.27
- 6.18.28
- 6.18.29
- 6.18.30
- 6.18.31
- 6.18.32
- 6.18.33
- 6.18.34
- 6.18.35
- 6.18.36
- 6.18.37
- 6.18.38
- 6.18.39
- 6.18.40
- 6.18.41
- 6.18.42
- 6.18.43
- 6.18.44
- 6.18.45
- 6.18.46
- 6.18.47
- 6.18.48
- 6.18.49
- 7.2.0
- 7.2.1
- 7.2.2
- 7.2.3
License
Website
- Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/
CPE 2.3
CPE 2.2
CVSSv4
VulDB Vector: 🔒VulDB Reliability: 🔍
CVSSv3
VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.5VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.2
VulDB Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Temp Score: 6.2
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍
CVSSv2
| AV | AC | Au | C | I | A |
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| 💳 | 💳 | 💳 | 💳 | 💳 | 💳 |
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍
Exploiting
Class: Infinite loopCWE: CWE-835 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒
Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes
Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒
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Threat Intelligence
Interest: 🔍Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍
Countermeasures
Recommended: UpgradeStatus: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔒
Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.109/6.18.50/7.2.4/7.3-rc1
Patch: 5a541eb401acb89d791da41189d7a79220164b93/37d6edb2f03b29399a3a337fae78674de51e1695/3d122b2feb1dd76bb5041bdea5e1e1b007d8d415/e7d7aa7b730178278109c41fa1b17b06873065d5
Timeline
09/11/2026 CVE reserved09/12/2026 Advisory disclosed
09/12/2026 VulDB entry created
09/12/2026 VulDB entry last update
Sources
Vendor: kernel.orgAdvisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed
CVE: CVE-2026-89647 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-89647
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-402958
Entry
Created: 09/12/2026 02:10Changes: 09/12/2026 02:10 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103
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