All vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-99085

Linux: sched_ext: Fix CPU hotplug hang when a dying CPU's tasks sit in the BPF scheduler

Linux LinuxOperating systems
CVSS
NoneNot scored
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)No scoreNo FIRST EPSS score in this snapshot yet
Fixed in638ee6bca19750934ea13f9c325f46fd8ae60064Also 173ff9d03ec6373c3158b6e630af33a9b36fd216CVE List
Published23 Oct 2026Updated 23 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

  • 638ee6bca19750934ea13f9c325f46fd8ae60064LinuxCVE List
  • 173ff9d03ec6373c3158b6e630af33a9b36fd216LinuxCVE List

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

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.

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 10

  • Linuxaffected: f0e1a0643a59bf1f922fa209cec86a170b784f3f before f79cd7a2df3768323fbfb9b0f96adff08fb7eb4cCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: f0e1a0643a59bf1f922fa209cec86a170b784f3f before 638ee6bca19750934ea13f9c325f46fd8ae60064CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: f0e1a0643a59bf1f922fa209cec86a170b784f3f before 173ff9d03ec6373c3158b6e630af33a9b36fd216CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: f0e1a0643a59bf1f922fa209cec86a170b784f3f before d35a535d3e3e71f92a051d94e415f43612c4edfcCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 6.12CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: all versions before 6.12CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.12.114 through 6.12.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.18.58 through 6.18.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.2.12 through 7.2.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.3CVE List

References 4