| CVE |
Vendors |
Products |
Updated |
CVSS v3.1 |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Bluetooth: btusb: mediatek: Add locks for usb_driver_claim_interface()
The documentation for usb_driver_claim_interface() says that "the
device lock" is needed when the function is called from places other
than probe(). This appears to be the lock for the USB interface
device. The Mediatek btusb code gets called via this path:
Workqueue: hci0 hci_power_on [bluetooth]
Call trace:
usb_driver_claim_interface
btusb_mtk_claim_iso_intf
btusb_mtk_setup
hci_dev_open_sync
hci_power_on
process_scheduled_works
worker_thread
kthread
With the above call trace the device lock hasn't been claimed. Claim
it.
Without this fix, we'd sometimes see the error "Failed to claim iso
interface". Sometimes we'd even see worse errors, like a NULL pointer
dereference (where `intf->dev.driver` was NULL) with a trace like:
Call trace:
usb_suspend_both
usb_runtime_suspend
__rpm_callback
rpm_suspend
pm_runtime_work
process_scheduled_works
Both errors appear to be fixed with the proper locking. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
rxrpc, afs: Fix peer hash locking vs RCU callback
In its address list, afs now retains pointers to and refs on one or more
rxrpc_peer objects. The address list is freed under RCU and at this time,
it puts the refs on those peers.
Now, when an rxrpc_peer object runs out of refs, it gets removed from the
peer hash table and, for that, rxrpc has to take a spinlock. However, it
is now being called from afs's RCU cleanup, which takes place in BH
context - but it is just taking an ordinary spinlock.
The put may also be called from non-BH context, and so there exists the
possibility of deadlock if the BH-based RCU cleanup happens whilst the hash
spinlock is held. This led to the attached lockdep complaint.
Fix this by changing spinlocks of rxnet->peer_hash_lock back to
BH-disabling locks.
================================
WARNING: inconsistent lock state
6.13.0-rc5-build2+ #1223 Tainted: G E
--------------------------------
inconsistent {SOFTIRQ-ON-W} -> {IN-SOFTIRQ-W} usage.
swapper/1/0 [HC0[0]:SC1[1]:HE1:SE0] takes:
ffff88810babe228 (&rxnet->peer_hash_lock){+.?.}-{3:3}, at: rxrpc_put_peer+0xcb/0x180
{SOFTIRQ-ON-W} state was registered at:
mark_usage+0x164/0x180
__lock_acquire+0x544/0x990
lock_acquire.part.0+0x103/0x280
_raw_spin_lock+0x2f/0x40
rxrpc_peer_keepalive_worker+0x144/0x440
process_one_work+0x486/0x7c0
process_scheduled_works+0x73/0x90
worker_thread+0x1c8/0x2a0
kthread+0x19b/0x1b0
ret_from_fork+0x24/0x40
ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
irq event stamp: 972402
hardirqs last enabled at (972402): [<ffffffff8244360e>] _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0x2e/0x50
hardirqs last disabled at (972401): [<ffffffff82443328>] _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x18/0x60
softirqs last enabled at (972300): [<ffffffff810ffbbe>] handle_softirqs+0x3ee/0x430
softirqs last disabled at (972313): [<ffffffff810ffc54>] __irq_exit_rcu+0x44/0x110
other info that might help us debug this:
Possible unsafe locking scenario:
CPU0
----
lock(&rxnet->peer_hash_lock);
<Interrupt>
lock(&rxnet->peer_hash_lock);
*** DEADLOCK ***
1 lock held by swapper/1/0:
#0: ffffffff83576be0 (rcu_callback){....}-{0:0}, at: rcu_lock_acquire+0x7/0x30
stack backtrace:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/1 Tainted: G E 6.13.0-rc5-build2+ #1223
Tainted: [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE
Hardware name: ASUS All Series/H97-PLUS, BIOS 2306 10/09/2014
Call Trace:
<IRQ>
dump_stack_lvl+0x57/0x80
print_usage_bug.part.0+0x227/0x240
valid_state+0x53/0x70
mark_lock_irq+0xa5/0x2f0
mark_lock+0xf7/0x170
mark_usage+0xe1/0x180
__lock_acquire+0x544/0x990
lock_acquire.part.0+0x103/0x280
_raw_spin_lock+0x2f/0x40
rxrpc_put_peer+0xcb/0x180
afs_free_addrlist+0x46/0x90 [kafs]
rcu_do_batch+0x2d2/0x640
rcu_core+0x2f7/0x350
handle_softirqs+0x1ee/0x430
__irq_exit_rcu+0x44/0x110
irq_exit_rcu+0xa/0x30
sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x7f/0xa0
</IRQ> |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tcp: correct handling of extreme memory squeeze
Testing with iperf3 using the "pasta" protocol splicer has revealed
a problem in the way tcp handles window advertising in extreme memory
squeeze situations.
Under memory pressure, a socket endpoint may temporarily advertise
a zero-sized window, but this is not stored as part of the socket data.
The reasoning behind this is that it is considered a temporary setting
which shouldn't influence any further calculations.
However, if we happen to stall at an unfortunate value of the current
window size, the algorithm selecting a new value will consistently fail
to advertise a non-zero window once we have freed up enough memory.
This means that this side's notion of the current window size is
different from the one last advertised to the peer, causing the latter
to not send any data to resolve the sitution.
The problem occurs on the iperf3 server side, and the socket in question
is a completely regular socket with the default settings for the
fedora40 kernel. We do not use SO_PEEK or SO_RCVBUF on the socket.
The following excerpt of a logging session, with own comments added,
shows more in detail what is happening:
// tcp_v4_rcv(->)
// tcp_rcv_established(->)
[5201<->39222]: ==== Activating log @ net/ipv4/tcp_input.c/tcp_data_queue()/5257 ====
[5201<->39222]: tcp_data_queue(->)
[5201<->39222]: DROPPING skb [265600160..265665640], reason: SKB_DROP_REASON_PROTO_MEM
[rcv_nxt 265600160, rcv_wnd 262144, snt_ack 265469200, win_now 131184]
[copied_seq 259909392->260034360 (124968), unread 5565800, qlen 85, ofoq 0]
[OFO queue: gap: 65480, len: 0]
[5201<->39222]: tcp_data_queue(<-)
[5201<->39222]: __tcp_transmit_skb(->)
[tp->rcv_wup: 265469200, tp->rcv_wnd: 262144, tp->rcv_nxt 265600160]
[5201<->39222]: tcp_select_window(->)
[5201<->39222]: (inet_csk(sk)->icsk_ack.pending & ICSK_ACK_NOMEM) ? --> TRUE
[tp->rcv_wup: 265469200, tp->rcv_wnd: 262144, tp->rcv_nxt 265600160]
returning 0
[5201<->39222]: tcp_select_window(<-)
[5201<->39222]: ADVERTISING WIN 0, ACK_SEQ: 265600160
[5201<->39222]: [__tcp_transmit_skb(<-)
[5201<->39222]: tcp_rcv_established(<-)
[5201<->39222]: tcp_v4_rcv(<-)
// Receive queue is at 85 buffers and we are out of memory.
// We drop the incoming buffer, although it is in sequence, and decide
// to send an advertisement with a window of zero.
// We don't update tp->rcv_wnd and tp->rcv_wup accordingly, which means
// we unconditionally shrink the window.
[5201<->39222]: tcp_recvmsg_locked(->)
[5201<->39222]: __tcp_cleanup_rbuf(->) tp->rcv_wup: 265469200, tp->rcv_wnd: 262144, tp->rcv_nxt 265600160
[5201<->39222]: [new_win = 0, win_now = 131184, 2 * win_now = 262368]
[5201<->39222]: [new_win >= (2 * win_now) ? --> time_to_ack = 0]
[5201<->39222]: NOT calling tcp_send_ack()
[tp->rcv_wup: 265469200, tp->rcv_wnd: 262144, tp->rcv_nxt 265600160]
[5201<->39222]: __tcp_cleanup_rbuf(<-)
[rcv_nxt 265600160, rcv_wnd 262144, snt_ack 265469200, win_now 131184]
[copied_seq 260040464->260040464 (0), unread 5559696, qlen 85, ofoq 0]
returning 6104 bytes
[5201<->39222]: tcp_recvmsg_locked(<-)
// After each read, the algorithm for calculating the new receive
// window in __tcp_cleanup_rbuf() finds it is too small to advertise
// or to update tp->rcv_wnd.
// Meanwhile, the peer thinks the window is zero, and will not send
// any more data to trigger an update from the interrupt mode side.
[5201<->39222]: tcp_recvmsg_locked(->)
[5201<->39222]: __tcp_cleanup_rbuf(->) tp->rcv_wup: 265469200, tp->rcv_wnd: 262144, tp->rcv_nxt 265600160
[5201<->39222]: [new_win = 262144, win_now = 131184, 2 * win_n
---truncated--- |
| [This CNA information record relates to multiple CVEs; the
text explains which aspects/vulnerabilities correspond to which CVE.]
To manage the system, sysctl and platform operations are used by the
control domain or a possible Xenstore domain. Some of these operations
may not be executed in parallel, so a system-wide lock each is used.
The way those locks are acquired is, however, not providing any fairness.
Furthermore, with XSM/Flask in use, the lock acquire will, for some
operations, occur ahead of any permission checking.
The sysctl issue is CVE-2026-62426.
The platform-op issue is CVE-2026-62427. |
| A denial of service vulnerability due to a deadlock was found in sctp_auto_asconf_init in net/sctp/socket.c in the Linux kernel’s SCTP subsystem. This flaw allows guests with local user privileges to trigger a deadlock and potentially crash the system. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
block: fix queue freeze vs limits lock order in sysfs store methods
queue_attr_store() always freezes a device queue before calling the
attribute store operation. For attributes that control queue limits, the
store operation will also lock the queue limits with a call to
queue_limits_start_update(). However, some drivers (e.g. SCSI sd) may
need to issue commands to a device to obtain limit values from the
hardware with the queue limits locked. This creates a potential ABBA
deadlock situation if a user attempts to modify a limit (thus freezing
the device queue) while the device driver starts a revalidation of the
device queue limits.
Avoid such deadlock by not freezing the queue before calling the
->store_limit() method in struct queue_sysfs_entry and instead use the
queue_limits_commit_update_frozen helper to freeze the queue after taking
the limits lock.
This also removes taking the sysfs lock for the store_limit method as
it doesn't protect anything here, but creates even more nesting.
Hopefully it will go away from the actual sysfs methods entirely soon.
(commit log adapted from a similar patch from Damien Le Moal) |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
regulator: core: fix locking in regulator_resolve_supply() error path
If late enabling of a supply regulator fails in
regulator_resolve_supply(), the code currently triggers a lockdep
warning:
WARNING: drivers/regulator/core.c:2649 at _regulator_put+0x80/0xa0, CPU#6: kworker/u32:4/596
...
Call trace:
_regulator_put+0x80/0xa0 (P)
regulator_resolve_supply+0x7cc/0xbe0
regulator_register_resolve_supply+0x28/0xb8
as the regulator_list_mutex must be held when calling _regulator_put().
To solve this, simply switch to using regulator_put().
While at it, we should also make sure that no concurrent access happens
to our rdev while we clear out the supply pointer. Add appropriate
locking to ensure that.
While the code in question will be removed altogether in a follow-up
commit, I believe it is still beneficial to have this corrected before
removal for future reference. |
| A flaw was found in the X server's request handling. Non-zero 'bytes to ignore' in a client's request can cause the server to skip processing another client's request, potentially leading to a denial of service. |
| concurrent-ruby is a modern concurrency tools for Ruby. Prior to 1.3.7, Concurrent::ReadWriteLock#release_write_lock does not verify that the calling thread acquired the write lock. Any thread with access to the lock object can release an active write lock held by another thread. A second writer can then enter its critical section while the first writer is still running. Concurrent::ReadWriteLock#release_read_lock also decrements the shared counter even when no read lock is held. Calling it on a fresh lock changes the counter from 0 to -1, after which normal read acquisition raises Concurrent::ResourceLimitError. This is a synchronization correctness issue in the public Concurrent::ReadWriteLock API. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.3.7. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
hwmon: (pmbus/core) Protect regulator operations with mutex
The regulator operations pmbus_regulator_get_voltage(),
pmbus_regulator_set_voltage(), and pmbus_regulator_list_voltage()
access PMBus registers and shared data but were not protected by
the update_lock mutex. This could lead to race conditions.
However, adding mutex protection directly to these functions causes
a deadlock because pmbus_regulator_notify() (which calls
regulator_notifier_call_chain()) is often called with the mutex
already held (e.g., from pmbus_fault_handler()). If a regulator
callback then calls one of the now-protected voltage functions,
it will attempt to acquire the same mutex.
Rework pmbus_regulator_notify() to utilize a worker function to
send notifications outside of the mutex protection. Events are
stored as atomics in a per-page bitmask and processed by the worker.
Initialize the worker and its associated data during regulator
registration, and ensure it is cancelled on device removal using
devm_add_action_or_reset().
While at it, remove the unnecessary include of linux/of.h. |
| [This CNA information record relates to multiple CVEs; the
text explains which aspects/vulnerabilities correspond to which CVE.]
To create and manage guests, domctl operations are used by the control
domain, a possible Xenstore domain, or by a domain controlling a
particular guest. Some of these operations may not be executed in
parallel, so a system-wide lock is used. The way that lock is acquired
is, however, not providing any fairness. This is CVE-2026-42489.
Furthermore, with XSM/Flask in use, the lock acquire will, for some
operations, occur ahead of any permission checking. This is
CVE-2026-42490. |
| [This CNA information record relates to multiple CVEs; the
text explains which aspects/vulnerabilities correspond to which CVE.]
To create and manage guests, domctl operations are used by the control
domain, a possible Xenstore domain, or by a domain controlling a
particular guest. Some of these operations may not be executed in
parallel, so a system-wide lock is used. The way that lock is acquired
is, however, not providing any fairness. This is CVE-2026-42489.
Furthermore, with XSM/Flask in use, the lock acquire will, for some
operations, occur ahead of any permission checking. This is
CVE-2026-42490. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
md/raid5: fix soft lockup in retry_aligned_read()
When retry_aligned_read() encounters an overlapped stripe, it releases
the stripe via raid5_release_stripe() which puts it on the lockless
released_stripes llist. In the next raid5d loop iteration,
release_stripe_list() drains the stripe onto handle_list (since
STRIPE_HANDLE is set by the original IO), but retry_aligned_read()
runs before handle_active_stripes() and removes the stripe from
handle_list via find_get_stripe() -> list_del_init(). This prevents
handle_stripe() from ever processing the stripe to resolve the
overlap, causing an infinite loop and soft lockup.
Fix this by using __release_stripe() with temp_inactive_list instead
of raid5_release_stripe() in the failure path, so the stripe does not
go through the released_stripes llist. This allows raid5d to break out
of its loop, and the overlap will be resolved when the stripe is
eventually processed by handle_stripe(). |
| This CVE ID has been rejected or withdrawn by its CVE Numbering Authority. |
| This CVE ID has been rejected or withdrawn by its CVE Numbering Authority. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipvlan: Make the addrs_lock be per port
Make the addrs_lock be per port, not per ipvlan dev.
Initial code seems to be written in the assumption,
that any address change must occur under RTNL.
But it is not so for the case of IPv6. So
1) Introduce per-port addrs_lock.
2) It was needed to fix places where it was forgotten
to take lock (ipvlan_open/ipvlan_close)
This appears to be a very minor problem though.
Since it's highly unlikely that ipvlan_add_addr() will
be called on 2 CPU simultaneously. But nevertheless,
this could cause:
1) False-negative of ipvlan_addr_busy(): one interface
iterated through all port->ipvlans + ipvlan->addrs
under some ipvlan spinlock, and another added IP
under its own lock. Though this is only possible
for IPv6, since looks like only ipvlan_addr6_event() can be
called without rtnl_lock.
2) Race since ipvlan_ht_addr_add(port) is called under
different ipvlan->addrs_lock locks
This should not affect performance, since add/remove IP
is a rare situation and spinlock is not taken on fast
paths. |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: ks8851: Reinstate disabling of BHs around IRQ handler
If the driver executes ks8851_irq() AND a TX packet has been sent, then
the driver enables TX queue via netif_wake_queue() which schedules TX
softirq to queue packets for this device.
If CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y is set AND a packet has also been received by
the MAC, then ks8851_rx_pkts() calls netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() to
allocate SKBs for the received packets. If netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align()
is called with BH enabled, then local_bh_enable() at the end of
netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() will trigger the pending softirq processing,
which may ultimately call the .xmit callback ks8851_start_xmit_par().
The ks8851_start_xmit_par() will try to lock struct ks8851_net_par
.lock spinlock, which is already locked by ks8851_irq() from which
ks8851_start_xmit_par() was called. This leads to a deadlock, which
is reported by the kernel, including a trace listed below.
If CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT is not set, then since commit 0913ec336a6c0
("net: ks8851: Fix deadlock with the SPI chip variant") the deadlock
can also be triggered without received packet in the RX FIFO. The
pending softirqs will be processed on return from
spin_unlock_bh(&ks->statelock) in ks8851_irq(), which triggers the
deadlock as well.
Fix the problem by disabling BH around critical sections, including the
IRQ handler, thus preventing the net_tx_action() softirq from triggering
during these critical sections. The net_tx_action() softirq is triggered
once BH are re-enabled and at the end of the IRQ handler, once all the
other IRQ handler actions have been completed.
__schedule from schedule_rtlock+0x1c/0x34
schedule_rtlock from rtlock_slowlock_locked+0x548/0x904
rtlock_slowlock_locked from rt_spin_lock+0x60/0x9c
rt_spin_lock from ks8851_start_xmit_par+0x74/0x1a8
ks8851_start_xmit_par from netdev_start_xmit+0x20/0x44
netdev_start_xmit from dev_hard_start_xmit+0xd0/0x188
dev_hard_start_xmit from sch_direct_xmit+0xb8/0x25c
sch_direct_xmit from __qdisc_run+0x1f8/0x4ec
__qdisc_run from qdisc_run+0x1c/0x28
qdisc_run from net_tx_action+0x1f0/0x268
net_tx_action from handle_softirqs+0x1a4/0x270
handle_softirqs from __local_bh_enable_ip+0xcc/0xe0
__local_bh_enable_ip from __alloc_skb+0xd8/0x128
__alloc_skb from __netdev_alloc_skb+0x3c/0x19c
__netdev_alloc_skb from ks8851_irq+0x388/0x4d4
ks8851_irq from irq_thread_fn+0x24/0x64
irq_thread_fn from irq_thread+0x178/0x28c
irq_thread from kthread+0x12c/0x138
kthread from ret_from_fork+0x14/0x28 |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: SVM: Add missing save/restore handling of LBR MSRs
MSR_IA32_DEBUGCTLMSR and LBR MSRs are currently not enumerated by
KVM_GET_MSR_INDEX_LIST, and LBR MSRs cannot be set with KVM_SET_MSRS. So
save/restore is completely broken.
Fix it by adding the MSRs to msrs_to_save_base, and allowing writes to
LBR MSRs from userspace only (as they are read-only MSRs) if LBR
virtualization is enabled. Additionally, to correctly restore L1's LBRs
while L2 is running, make sure the LBRs are copied from the captured
VMCB01 save area in svm_copy_vmrun_state().
Note, for VMX, this also fixes a flaw where MSR_IA32_DEBUGCTLMSR isn't
reported as an MSR to save/restore.
Note #2, over-reporting MSR_IA32_LASTxxx on Intel is ok, as KVM already
handles unsupported reads and writes thanks to commit b5e2fec0ebc3 ("KVM:
Ignore DEBUGCTL MSRs with no effect") (kvm_do_msr_access() will morph the
unsupported userspace write into a nop).
[sean: guard with lbrv checks, massage changelog] |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
md/raid10: fix deadlock with check operation and nowait requests
When an array check is running it will raise the barrier at which point
normal requests will become blocked and increment the nr_pending value to
signal there is work pending inside of wait_barrier(). NOWAIT requests
do not block and so will return immediately with an error, and additionally
do not increment nr_pending in wait_barrier(). Upstream change commit
43806c3d5b9b ("raid10: cleanup memleak at raid10_make_request") added a
call to raid_end_bio_io() to fix a memory leak when NOWAIT requests hit
this condition. raid_end_bio_io() eventually calls allow_barrier() and
it will unconditionally do an atomic_dec_and_test(&conf->nr_pending) even
though the corresponding increment on nr_pending didn't happen in the
NOWAIT case.
This can be easily seen by starting a check operation while an application
is doing nowait IO on the same array. This results in a deadlocked state
due to nr_pending value underflowing and so the md resync thread gets stuck
waiting for nr_pending to == 0.
Output of r10conf state of the array when we hit this condition:
crash> struct r10conf
barrier = 1,
nr_pending = {
counter = -41
},
nr_waiting = 15,
nr_queued = 0,
Example of md_sync thread stuck waiting on raise_barrier() and other
requests stuck in wait_barrier():
md1_resync
[<0>] raise_barrier+0xce/0x1c0
[<0>] raid10_sync_request+0x1ca/0x1ed0
[<0>] md_do_sync+0x779/0x1110
[<0>] md_thread+0x90/0x160
[<0>] kthread+0xbe/0xf0
[<0>] ret_from_fork+0x34/0x50
[<0>] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30
kworker/u1040:2+flush-253:4
[<0>] wait_barrier+0x1de/0x220
[<0>] regular_request_wait+0x30/0x180
[<0>] raid10_make_request+0x261/0x1000
[<0>] md_handle_request+0x13b/0x230
[<0>] __submit_bio+0x107/0x1f0
[<0>] submit_bio_noacct_nocheck+0x16f/0x390
[<0>] ext4_io_submit+0x24/0x40
[<0>] ext4_do_writepages+0x254/0xc80
[<0>] ext4_writepages+0x84/0x120
[<0>] do_writepages+0x7a/0x260
[<0>] __writeback_single_inode+0x3d/0x300
[<0>] writeback_sb_inodes+0x1dd/0x470
[<0>] __writeback_inodes_wb+0x4c/0xe0
[<0>] wb_writeback+0x18b/0x2d0
[<0>] wb_workfn+0x2a1/0x400
[<0>] process_one_work+0x149/0x330
[<0>] worker_thread+0x2d2/0x410
[<0>] kthread+0xbe/0xf0
[<0>] ret_from_fork+0x34/0x50
[<0>] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 |
| In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
x86/shstk: Prevent deadlock during shstk sigreturn
During sigreturn the shadow stack signal frame is popped. The kernel does
this by reading the shadow stack using normal read accesses. When it can't
assume the memory is shadow stack, it takes extra steps to makes sure it is
reading actual shadow stack memory and not other normal readable memory. It
does this by holding the mmap read lock while doing the access and checking
the flags of the VMA.
Unfortunately that is not safe. If the read of the shadow stack sigframe
hits a page fault, the fault handler will try to recursively grab another
mmap read lock. This normally works ok, but if a writer on another CPU is
also waiting, the second read lock could fail and cause a deadlock.
Fix this by not holding mmap lock during the read access to userspace.
Instead use mmap_lock_speculate_...() to watch for changes between dropping
mmap lock and the userspace access. Retry if anything grabbed an mmap write
lock in between and could have changed the VMA.
These mmap_lock_speculate_...() helpers use mm::mm_lock_seq, which is only
available when PER_VMA_LOCK is configured. So make X86_USER_SHADOW_STACK
depend on it. On x86, PER_VMA_LOCK is a default configuration for SMP
kernels. So drop support for the other configs under the assumption that
the !SMP shadow stack user base does not exist.
Currently there is a check that skips the lookup work when the SSP can be
assumed to be on a shadow stack. While reorganizing the function, remove
the optimization to make the tricky code flows more common, such that
issues like this cannot escape detection for so long. |