---
id: CVE-2026-98818
title: 'kernel: mm/slab: do not wake up kswapd in __kfree_rcu_sheaf() (CVE-2026-98818)'
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. When freeing memory through the slab
  allocator, the system may attempt to wake the kernel swap daemon while an
  internal scheduler lock is already held. This unsafe sequence can trigger a
  circular locki…
severity: medium
cvss: 4.7
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: vendor
cwe: CWE-833
vendor: Red Hat
product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
affected:
  - enterprise_linux 10
published: '2026-10-18'
updated: '2026-10-24'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-24T03:00:00+00:00'
source: CSAF
sourceUrl: 'https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98818.json'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98818.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98818'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2555208'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98818'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98818'
  - url: >-
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98818.mbox
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/46545c86b54ffb969b6e3662942b4a6191619eaa'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af2fb3ee6679b517e2fdbd3ba16ec276a8b74312'
tags:
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00162
epssPercentile: 0.05392
ingestedAt: '2026-10-18T16:47:32.476Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. When freeing memory through the slab allocator, the system may attempt to wake the kernel swap daemon while an internal scheduler lock is already held. This unsafe sequence can trigger a circular locking dependency and cause a system deadlock. A local user could exploit this condition to trigger a system hang, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · updated 2026-10-24 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98818.json)

**kernel: mm/slab: do not wake up kswapd in __kfree_rcu_sheaf()** — rated Moderate by Red Hat. Released 2026-10-18, updated 2026-10-24.

Affected:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

No fix planned:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

Not affected:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

## Remediation

Fix deferred