---
id: CVE-2026-97920
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  tracing: Keep the entry count when the histogram stats allocation fails

  print_entries() uses n_entries both as the number of sort entries and as
  its own return value, …
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  tracing: Keep the entry count when the histogram stats allocation fails

  print_entries() uses n_entries both as the number of sort entries and as
  its own return value, …
severity: medium
cvss: 5.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-125
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= 93454d1a306ea975294b861d32ffa1e44b20c733 <
    89c978d67ad01ce28223944cc58e95feea177b35
  - >-
    Linux >= abaa5258ce5e5887a9de049f50a85dc023391a1c <
    fe05eeed27128e17d38dbc0af02e4470bcecda89
  - >-
    Linux >= abaa5258ce5e5887a9de049f50a85dc023391a1c <
    9bd8321f5370295d1ae96dd17d43be3c9edd441b
  - >-
    Linux >= abaa5258ce5e5887a9de049f50a85dc023391a1c <
    c80b2a8067d58ff7d268ceef781c68b37a16c321
  - >-
    Linux >= abaa5258ce5e5887a9de049f50a85dc023391a1c <
    17e87ce55f877efff1b08fe509e8bf91378cbbc9
  - >-
    Linux >= abaa5258ce5e5887a9de049f50a85dc023391a1c <
    06f5634ec5584954177f9a22e36b3bfb398a971b
  - Linux >= 6.1.23 < 6.1.189
  - Linux 6.2
published: '2026-09-25'
updated: '2026-10-03'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-03T11:18:09.677'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97920'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/06f5634ec5584954177f9a22e36b3bfb398a971b'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/17e87ce55f877efff1b08fe509e8bf91378cbbc9'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/89c978d67ad01ce28223944cc58e95feea177b35'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9bd8321f5370295d1ae96dd17d43be3c9edd441b'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c80b2a8067d58ff7d268ceef781c68b37a16c321'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fe05eeed27128e17d38dbc0af02e4470bcecda89'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-97920.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-97920'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2541107'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97920'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97920'
  - url: >-
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97920.mbox
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
epss: 0.00206
epssPercentile: 0.10516
cvssSource: vendor
ingestedAt: '2026-09-25T11:06:38.888Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tracing: Keep the entry count when the histogram stats allocation fails

print_entries() uses n_entries both as the number of sort entries and as
its own return value, so the -ENOMEM it stores when the stats allocation
fails overwrites the count that the cleanup still needs:

	n_entries = tracing_map_sort_entries(map, ...);
	if (n_entries < 0)
		return n_entries;
	...
			if (!stats) {
				n_entries = -ENOMEM;
				goto out;
			}
	...
 out:
	tracing_map_destroy_sort_entries(sort_entries, n_entries);

tracing_map_destroy_sort_entries() takes an unsigned int and loops up to
it, so -ENOMEM arrives as 4294967284. It walks an array of at most
map->max_elts pointers and calls destroy_sort_entry(), which dereferences
and frees, on whatever lies past the end.

Reading the hist file of a trigger with a .percent value, with that
allocation forced to fail:

  BUG: KASAN: vmalloc-out-of-bounds in tracing_map_destroy_sort_entries+0xa0/0xb0
  Read of size 8 at addr ffffc90000045000 by task init/1
   tracing_map_destroy_sort_entries+0xa0/0xb0
   hist_show+0x6f7/0x1df0
   seq_read_iter+0x2b8/0x1190
   vfs_read+0x176/0xa40
  The buggy address belongs to a 4-page vmalloc region starting at
  ffffc90000041000 allocated at tracing_map_sort_entries+0x5c/0xd50

A few pages further the fault is fatal. The registers at the oops confirm
the bound: the loop's end pointer less the array start, over the pointer
size, is 4294967284.

Return the error in a separate variable and leave n_entries holding the
count, the way tracing_map_sort_entries() does on its own error path.

The stats block is only entered for a value carrying .percent or .graph,
which __create_val_field() has rejected since v6.3, so this cannot be
reached in mainline as it stands. It becomes reachable again with
"tracing: hist: let values keep the percent and graph modifiers", so it
should be applied first.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · updated 2026-10-17 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-97920.json)