Medium [CVE-2026-52994] fix MSG_ZEROCOPY pinned-pages accounting
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-52994 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat package: kernel-rt.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vsock/virtio: fix MSG_ZEROCOPY pinned-pages accounting virtio_transport_init_zcopy_skb() uses iter->count as the size argument for msg_zerocopy_realloc(), which in turn passes it to mm_account_pinned_pages() for RLIMIT_MEMLOCK accounting.
However, this function is called after virtio_transport_fill_skb() has already consumed the iterator via __zerocopy_sg_from_iter(), so on the last skb, iter->count will be 0, skipping the RLIMIT_MEMLOCK enforcement.
Pass pkt_len (the total bytes being sent) as an explicit parameter to virtio_transport_init_zcopy_skb() instead of reading the already-consumed iter->count. This matches TCP and UDP, which both call msg_zerocopy_realloc() with the original message size.
This vulnerability involves an accounting error in the `MSG_ZEROCOPY` pinned-pages mechanism, where the system's resource limit for locked memory (`RLIMIT_MEMLOCK`) may not be properly enforced.
This could allow a local attacker or a malicious virtual machine guest to bypass memory locking restrictions, potentially leading to resource exhaustion or a denial of service (DoS) condition. Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 5.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-911. Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
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