{"cve":"CVE-2026-98538","nvd":{"published":"2026-10-18T16:17:05.613","modified":"2026-10-19T10:19:09.527","status":"Received","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nwriteback: bound cleanup_offline_cgwb() rescans by rotating scanned inodes\n\ncleanup_offline_cgwb() prepares at most WB_MAX_INODES_PER_ISW inodes\nper call and is called again until the dying wb is drained, but every\ncall walks wb->b_attached and then wb->b_dirty_time from the same end.\nInodes already prepared (they stay on the list with I_WB_SWITCH set\nuntil the switch worker runs) and inodes that cannot be switched\n(I_FREEING, I_WILL_FREE, !SB_ACTIVE, DAX, already on the target wb)\nstay where they are, so each pass rescans a growing run of them under\nwb->list_lock and a full drain is quadratic in the number of inodes on\nthe list. With ~17M inodes attached to one dying cgwb we saw this end\nin soft lockups, with CPUs reported stuck for 21-48s.\n\nWalk both lists from the oldest end and move every scanned inode to\nthe newest end, so the next pass starts where the previous one stopped\nand the drain becomes linear. b_attached is unordered, so nobody sees\nthe reorder there. b_dirty_time is ordered by dirtied_when, but the\noldest unscanned inode stays at the end move_expired_inodes() picks\nfrom, sync takes the whole list regardless of order, and prepared\ninodes leave the list as soon as the switch work runs and get a new\ndirtied_time_when on the new wb anyway, so the only inodes left out of\norder are the ones that can never switch (DAX), and only on the dying\nwb.","cvss_v4":null,"cvss_v3":null,"cwes":[],"references":["https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d1da58c79b66646721a644c6eb4dd1f9c5c9327","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/624dd0931162523d70f9db8c120b5ec6429a9b97","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9dac137bf77e0683778fb34c86e730c6129e8cb6","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c96b4d1628868e1195da1a896f79e06f350a3187","https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd4b92067238771b604b59fdda8efed6d70ee823"],"products":[],"source":"nvd","synced_at":"2026-10-19T23:00:53.604569364+00:00"},"epss":{"cve":"CVE-2026-98538","score":0.00215,"percentile":0.11783,"date":"2026-10-25"},"kev":null,"osv":[],"attribution":["This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.","EPSS scores: FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System, https://www.first.org/epss","Known exploited vulnerabilities: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","Package advisories: OSV (https://osv.dev), from the GitHub Advisory Database, PyPA, Go, RustSec and other ecosystem databases, under CC-BY 4.0 or CC0","CVE records: the CVE Program's CVE List (https://www.cve.org), under its terms of use (https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse). CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation; this product is not affiliated with the CVE Program."]}