Bug 2532178 (CVE-2026-89521) - CVE-2026-89521 kernel: sched/core: Handle pick_task() releasing the rq lock
Summary: CVE-2026-89521 kernel: sched/core: Handle pick_task() releasing the rq lock
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-89521
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-11 21:08 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-09-18 13:06 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 21:08:30 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/core: Handle pick_task() releasing the rq lock

Core scheduling's pick_next_task() breaks when a ->pick_task()
implementation can release the rq lock. The selection state derived on entry
is only valid while the lock is held continuously. Once a pick can drop the
lock, an interleaving selection can invalidate all of it: the single-CPU
fast path can commit an uncookied pick although the core went cookied during
the release, and forceidle committed by the interleaving selection skews the
restarted pass's accounting.

Fix it by restarting the whole selection when a pick returns RETRY_TASK
after releasing the lock: a single restart point above the state derivation
replaces the per-loop restart labels, so a retry picks up state committed by
interleaving selections and accounts and resets forceidle like a fresh
selection would.

need_sync and fi_before latch across retries. Clock validity can't be
re-derived - there is no program-ordered way to tell whether the own and
core rq clocks are still updated after the lock was released, as other
lockers' pin cycles may or may not have invalidated them. When restarting,
clear core_clock_updated so that the sibling loop re-updates the core rq,
and update the own rq clock if invalidated.


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