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NVD / CVE Program· CNA Linux

CVE-2026-90129: virtio_balloon: quiesce balloon work before device shutdown

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 0/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.20% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Fixed version: Linux Linux 6.13, 6.15, 6.2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 6.13, 6.15, 6.2 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio_balloon: quiesce balloon work before device shutdown Commit 8bd2fa086a04 ("virtio: break and reset virtio devices on device_shutdown()") added a generic virtio bus .shutdown handler that breaks and resets every virtio device during device_shutdown(), i.e. on reboot and kexec. virtio_balloon provides no .shutdown of its own, so that generic path runs while the balloon's asynchronous work is still armed. Once the device has been broken, virtqueue_add_inbuf() in virtballoon_free_page_report() returns -EIO and trips its WARN_ON_ONCE(). On a kernel booted with panic_on_warn that turns an ordinary reboot, for example a kexec based upgrade, into a fatal panic in the middle of device_shutdown(), so the machine never reaches the new kernel. Relaxing that single WARN_ON_ONCE() would only hide the symptom: the inflate/deflate and OOM paths do not warn, they call wait_event(vb->acked, ...) and would instead block forever on a broken queue that can no longer complete. The device has to be quiesced, not just kept quiet. Add a .shutdown handler that quiesces the balloon via the shared virtballoon_quiesce() helper while the device is still alive, and only then breaks and resets it via virtio_device_shutdown(). Unlike virtballoon_remove() the balloon workqueue is not destroyed, as shutdown does not free the device and cancel_work_sync() together with stop_update already prevent any further work from being queued.

—No exploit Fix available
Published
Sep 17, 2026
Updated
Oct 30, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 10th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

0

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
0 / 40 · —
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

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  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Linux Linux

    • 0c03e32494dd0bbcc301523e5ae567c2f567a7d9, acdfe206be6c70ec55dc8bfdb1a22036d10fae26, 1eaa83fd94ed5e40d43139025f5acb7bcfed3b5f, aee42f3d57bfa37b2716df4584edeecf63b9df4c, 6.15affected
    • 8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203 and later · before 6dd28e32f4d81a0d57c732b9900de24184e60a7daffected · git
    • 8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203 and later · before bdef50a8226fc04899ef6815dd08a002247d47d5affected · git
    • 8bd2fa086a04886798b505f28db4002525895203 and later · before 7e17eef04600c399c7e0f5ce765da5cf9d40d8e1affected · git
    • 6.1.191 and later · before 6.2affected · semver
    • 6.6.160 and later · before 6.7affected · semver
    • 6.12.114 and later · before 6.13affected · semver
    • 6.14.9 and later · before 6.15affected · semver
    • before 6.15not affected · semver
    • 6.18.52 and later · up to and including 6.18.*not affected · semver

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:14linuxbefore 7.2.6-17.2.6-1

Same product

linux: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-74705udp: fix potential use-after-free in tunnel segmentation
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74612veth: fix skb length accounting after XDP frag adjustment
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74475vxlan: use neigh_ha_snapshot() in route_shortcircuit()
    40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-90127Sep 17, 2026 · virtio: rtc: time out alarm requests
    0Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-90128Sep 17, 2026 · vdpa/mlx5: fix wrong list iterated in add_direct_chain error path
    0Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-90130Sep 17, 2026 · vdpa_sim: fix cleanup after worker creation failure
    0Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Linux Linux6.13Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux6.15Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux6.2Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux6.7Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linux6dd28e32f4d81a0d57c732b9900de24184e60a7dVendor (CNA)
Linux Linux7e17eef04600c399c7e0f5ce765da5cf9d40d8e1Vendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxbdef50a8226fc04899ef6815dd08a002247d47d5Vendor (CNA)
debian:linux7.2.6-1 · Debian:14Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

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No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

No CVSS vector for this record, so attack conditions can't be derived.

Weakness class (CWE)

—

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Show all references (2 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

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