CVE-2026-99085
Received
Received - Intake
CPU Hotplug Hang in Linux Kernel sched_ext
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-99085, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-10-23
Last updated on: 2026-10-23
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
sched_ext: Fix CPU hotplug hang when a dying CPU's tasks sit in the BPF scheduler
A CPU going down has to empty its own rq. Its hotplug thread waits in
sched_cpu_wait_empty() until nothing else is left, and the only thing that
wakes it is balance_push(), which runs from __schedule() on the dying CPU
and pushes off the migratable tasks the CPU picks.
sched_ext breaks this. A task sitting on a user DSQ or held by the BPF
scheduler is still counted on its rq, but an inactive CPU no longer calls
ops.dispatch() and can't pull the task back. The dying CPU goes idle with
the task still counted, and one of two things happens:
- Another CPU consumes the task. The rq empties without a __schedule() on
the dying CPU, so the hotplug thread is never woken and cpu_down() hangs
holding cpu_hotplug_lock.
- The task is affine only to the dying CPU. Nothing can move it, and the
offline stalls until the watchdog ejects the BPF scheduler.
When the rq goes offline, re-enqueue every task on it that isn't already on
the local DSQ. An enqueue on an offline rq lands on the local DSQ, so the
dying CPU itself picks the tasks and balance_push() pushes them off, the
same as for the other sched classes. From then on no sched_ext path on
another CPU can pull a task off the rq.
ops.dispatch() currently stops as soon as the CPU goes inactive, and CPU
hotplug then waits for an RCU grace period before taking the rq offline. A
BPF-held task affine only to the dying CPU and preempted inside an RCU
read-side critical section would block that grace period, and the rq would
never go offline. Test SCX_RQ_ONLINE directly so that ops.dispatch() keeps
running until the rq goes offline. Only the dying CPU's own hotplug thread
clears the flag during teardown, and task_can_run_on_remote_rq() still keeps
other rqs' tasks off the CPU.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
