CVE-2026-98161
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's persistent memory (pmem) subsystem. When processing storage write requests, the driver continues copying data even if a preceding cache flush operation fails, potentially overwriting the error status and reporting success. A local user performing I/O operations on persistent memory devices could trigger this flaw, leading to silent data corruption or inconsistent storage states due to violated write ordering barriers.
Statement
A flaw of moderate impact was found in the Linux kernel's persistent memory (pmem) driver in drivers/nvdimm/pmem.c, affecting the kernel and kernel-rt packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9, and 10, as well as RHIVOS 2 and the RHEL CoreOS images shipped with OpenShift 4.12 and later. In pmem_submit_bio(), an error from a REQ_PREFLUSH cache-flush operation was recorded, but the driver continued copying the bio data, and a later successful REQ_FUA flush could overwrite the earlier error. As a result, data writes could proceed after a failed preflush and the I/O request could be completed successfully despite the failed write-ordering barrier, which can lead to silent data corruption or inconsistent storage states on persistent memory devices. A local user with write access to a pmem block device or a filesystem backed by it could trigger this behavior during ordinary I/O; the issue is not network reachable and does not involve privilege escalation or information disclosure. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 are marked not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in those kernels. The Red Hat and NIST CVSS v3.1 scores are both 5.5 (MODERATE), so there is no difference from the upstream severity.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | 5.5 | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | Local | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | Low | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | None | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | Unchanged | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | None | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | High | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context; Unexpected State; Alter Execution Logic
An attacker could utilize an ignored error condition to place the system in an unexpected state that could lead to the execution of unintended logic and could cause other unintended behavior.
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