sched_ext: Fix starvation of scx_enable() under fair-class saturation
Published May 8, 2026
5.5
MEDIUMCVSS 3.1
EPSS 0.17%
Description
During scx_enable(), the READY -> ENABLED task switching loop changes the calling thread's sched_class from fair to ext. Since fair has higher priority than ext, saturating fair-class workloads can indefinitely starve the enable thread, hanging the system. This was introduced when the enable path switched from preempt_disable() to scx_bypass() which doesn't protect against fair-class starvation. Note that the original preempt_disable() protection wasn't complete either - in partial switch modes, the calling thread could still be starved after preempt_enable() as it may have been switched to ext class.
Fix it by offloading the enable body to a dedicated system-wide RT (SCHED_FIFO) kthread which cannot be starved by either fair or ext class tasks. scx_enable() lazily creates the kthread on first use and passes the ops pointer through a struct scx_enable_cmd containing the kthread_work, then synchronously waits for completion.
The workfn runs on a different kthread from sch->helper (which runs disable_work), so it can safely flush disable_work on the error path without deadlock.
Affected products
-
Affected
- ≥ , <
- ≥ , <
- ≥ , <
- ≥ , <
-
Affected
- 6.12
Unaffected
- ≥ 0, < 6.12
- ≥ 6.12.78, ≤ 6.12.*
- ≥ 6.18.20, ≤ 6.18.*
- ≥ 6.19.9, ≤ 6.19.*
- 7.0
Default status is the baseline for the product. Each version can override it (patched versions can be marked unaffected).
- ≥ 6.12.1 · < 6.12.78
- ≥ 6.13 · < 6.18.20
- ≥ 6.19 · < 6.19.9
- 6.12
- 6.12
- 6.12
- 6.12
- 6.12
- 6.12
- 6.12
- 7.0
- 7.0
No data.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
kernel-rt
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
kernel-rt
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
kernel
Not affected
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
kernel-rt
Not affected
| Product | Package | State | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-rt | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel-rt | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | kernel | Not affected | n/a |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | kernel-rt | Not affected | n/a |
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
References (10)
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-43392 Vendor Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2468221 Issue Tracking
- https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2026-28698 Advisory
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/05ab9ec5dc24f234e0a2fecf3e6ff937c68f7d81 Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b06ccbabe2506fd70b9167a644978b049150224a Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c44198f25fdfecc0ec0fe366bf8a47fe17d8e229 Patch
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0b14bf06393be137d3efb6a3b7cd5b4b9810a6b Patch
- https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026050837-CVE-2026-43392-00ee@gregkh/T
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43392
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43392
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.
CVE.org / MITRE
CISA Vulnrichment
No data
GitHub
No data