Bug 2356662 (CVE-2025-21897) - CVE-2025-21897 kernel: sched_ext: Fix pick_task_scx() picking non-queued tasks when it's called without balance()
Summary: CVE-2025-21897 kernel: sched_ext: Fix pick_task_scx() picking non-queued task...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2025-21897
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: 2025-04-01 16:04 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2025-04-02 19:06 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2025-04-01 16:04:56 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched_ext: Fix pick_task_scx() picking non-queued tasks when it's called without balance()

a6250aa251ea ("sched_ext: Handle cases where pick_task_scx() is called
without preceding balance_scx()") added a workaround to handle the cases
where pick_task_scx() is called without prececing balance_scx() which is due
to a fair class bug where pick_taks_fair() may return NULL after a true
return from balance_fair().

The workaround detects when pick_task_scx() is called without preceding
balance_scx() and emulates SCX_RQ_BAL_KEEP and triggers kicking to avoid
stalling. Unfortunately, the workaround code was testing whether @prev was
on SCX to decide whether to keep the task running. This is incorrect as the
task may be on SCX but no longer runnable.

This could lead to a non-runnable task to be returned from pick_task_scx()
which cause interesting confusions and failures. e.g. A common failure mode
is the task ending up with (!on_rq && on_cpu) state which can cause
potential wakers to busy loop, which can easily lead to deadlocks.

Fix it by testing whether @prev has SCX_TASK_QUEUED set. This makes
@prev_on_scx only used in one place. Open code the usage and improve the
comment while at it.


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