sched/fair: Clear rel_deadline when initializing forked entities
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-52980 |
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | Linux |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-06-24 17:17:08 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-06-24 17:17:08 UTC |
| Description | In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
sched/fair: Clear rel_deadline when initializing forked entities
A yield-triggered crash can happen when a newly forked sched_entity
enters the fair class with se->rel_deadline unexpectedly set.
The failing sequence is:
1. A task is forked while se->rel_deadline is still set.
2. __sched_fork() initializes vruntime, vlag and other sched_entity
state, but does not clear rel_deadline.
3. On the first enqueue, enqueue_entity() calls place_entity().
4. Because se->rel_deadline is set, place_entity() treats se->deadline
as a relative deadline and converts it to an absolute deadline by
adding the current vruntime.
5. However, the forked entity's deadline is not a valid inherited
relative deadline for this new scheduling instance, so the conversion
produces an abnormally large deadline.
6. If the task later calls sched_yield(), yield_task_fair() advances
se->vruntime to se->deadline.
7. The inflated vruntime is then used by the following enqueue path,
where the vruntime-derived key can overflow when multiplied by the
entity weight.
8. This corrupts cfs_rq->sum_w_vruntime, breaks EEVDF eligibility
calculation, and can eventually make all entities appear ineligible.
pick_next_entity() may then return NULL unexpectedly, leading to a
later NULL dereference.
A captured trace shows the effect clearly. Before yield, the entity's
vruntime was around:
9834017729983308
After yield_task_fair() executed:
se->vruntime = se->deadline
the vruntime jumped to:
19668035460670230
and the deadline was later advanced further to:
19668035463470230
This shows that the deadline had already become abnormally large before
yield_task_fair() copied it into vruntime.
rel_deadline is only meaningful when se->deadline really carries a
relative deadline that still needs to be placed against vruntime. A
freshly forked sched_entity should not inherit or retain this state.
Clear se->rel_deadline in __sched_fork(), together with the other
sched_entity runtime state, so that the first enqueue does not interpret
the new entity's deadline as a stale relative deadline. |
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
affected 82e9d0456e06cebe2c89f3c73cdbc9e3805e9437 c71bf35caba12bfd9bc23e32b0bcd9e02d1cf1ac git |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
affected 82e9d0456e06cebe2c89f3c73cdbc9e3805e9437 f3c16e1f4a314a20717ab90a41885f8111a242ab git |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
affected 82e9d0456e06cebe2c89f3c73cdbc9e3805e9437 8f4a16200785f49cf02c5b71bdfe7a9dab63f23a git |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
affected 82e9d0456e06cebe2c89f3c73cdbc9e3805e9437 3da56dc063cd77b9c0b40add930767fab4e389f3 git |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
affected 6.12 |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
unaffected 6.12 semver |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
unaffected 6.12.91 6.12.* semver |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
unaffected 6.18.33 6.18.* semver |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
unaffected 7.0.10 7.0.* semver |
Not specified |
| CNA |
Linux |
Linux |
unaffected 7.1 * original_commit_for_fix |
Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|
| git.kernel.org/stable/c/c71bf35caba12bfd9bc23e32b0bcd9e02d1cf1ac |
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 |
git.kernel.org |
|
| git.kernel.org/stable/c/8f4a16200785f49cf02c5b71bdfe7a9dab63f23a |
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 |
git.kernel.org |
|
| git.kernel.org/stable/c/3da56dc063cd77b9c0b40add930767fab4e389f3 |
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 |
git.kernel.org |
|
| git.kernel.org/stable/c/f3c16e1f4a314a20717ab90a41885f8111a242ab |
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 |
git.kernel.org |
|
| CVE Program record |
CVE.ORG |
www.cve.org |
canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail |
NVD |
nvd.nist.gov |
canonical, analysis |
No vendor comments have been submitted for this CVE.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.