CVE-2026-43392

MEDIUM

sched_ext: Fix starvation of scx_enable() under fair-class saturation

Title source: cna
STIX 2.1

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched_ext: Fix starvation of scx_enable() under fair-class saturation During scx_enable(), the READY -> ENABLED task switching loop changes the calling thread's sched_class from fair to ext. Since fair has higher priority than ext, saturating fair-class workloads can indefinitely starve the enable thread, hanging the system. This was introduced when the enable path switched from preempt_disable() to scx_bypass() which doesn't protect against fair-class starvation. Note that the original preempt_disable() protection wasn't complete either - in partial switch modes, the calling thread could still be starved after preempt_enable() as it may have been switched to ext class. Fix it by offloading the enable body to a dedicated system-wide RT (SCHED_FIFO) kthread which cannot be starved by either fair or ext class tasks. scx_enable() lazily creates the kthread on first use and passes the ops pointer through a struct scx_enable_cmd containing the kthread_work, then synchronously waits for completion. The workfn runs on a different kthread from sch->helper (which runs disable_work), so it can safely flush disable_work on the error path without deadlock.

Scores

CVSS v3 5.5
EPSS 0.0013
EPSS Percentile 3.0%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

Status published
Products (16)
linux/Kernel 6.12.0 - 6.12.78linux
linux/Kernel 6.13.0 - 6.18.20linux
linux/Kernel 6.19.0 - 6.19.9linux
Linux/Linux < 6.12
Linux/Linux 6.12
Linux/Linux 6.12.78 - 6.12.*
Linux/Linux 6.18.20 - 6.18.*
Linux/Linux 6.19.9 - 6.19.*
Linux/Linux 7.0
Linux/Linux 8c2090c504e998c8f34ec870bae71dafcc96a6e0 - 05ab9ec5dc24f234e0a2fecf3e6ff937c68f7d81
... and 6 more
Published May 08, 2026
Tracked Since May 08, 2026