CVE-2025-39749: rcu: Protect ->defer_qs_iw_pending from data race

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2025-39749 is a high (CVSS 7.0) vulnerability in debian debian_linux. EPSS estimates a 0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 11-09-2025
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 12-05-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rcu: Protect ->defer_qs_iw_pending from data race On kernels built with CONFIG_IRQ_WORK=y, when rcu_read_unlock() is invoked within an interrupts-disabled region of code [1], it will invoke rcu_read_unlock_special(), which uses an irq-work handler to force the system to notice when the RCU read-side critical section actually ends. That end won't happen until interrupts are enabled at the soonest. In some kernels, such as those booted with rcutree.use_softirq=y, the irq-work handler is used unconditionally. The per-CPU rcu_data structure's ->defer_qs_iw_pending field is updated by the irq-work handler and is both read and updated by rcu_read_unlock_special(). This resulted in the following KCSAN splat: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BUG: KCSAN: data-race in rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler / rcu_read_unlock_special read to 0xffff96b95f42d8d8 of 1 bytes by task 90 on cpu 8: rcu_read_unlock_special+0x175/0x260 __rcu_read_unlock+0x92/0xa0 rt_spin_unlock+0x9b/0xc0 __local_bh_enable+0x10d/0x170 __local_bh_enable_ip+0xfb/0x150 rcu_do_batch+0x595/0xc40 rcu_cpu_kthread+0x4e9/0x830 smpboot_thread_fn+0x24d/0x3b0 kthread+0x3bd/0x410 ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 write to 0xffff96b95f42d8d8 of 1 bytes by task 88 on cpu 8: rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler+0x1e/0x30 irq_work_single+0xaf/0x160 run_irq_workd+0x91/0xc0 smpboot_thread_fn+0x24d/0x3b0 kthread+0x3bd/0x410 ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 no locks held by irq_work/8/88. irq event stamp: 200272 hardirqs last enabled at (200272): [<ffffffffb0f56121>] finish_task_switch+0x131/0x320 hardirqs last disabled at (200271): [<ffffffffb25c7859>] __schedule+0x129/0xd70 softirqs last enabled at (0): [<ffffffffb0ee093f>] copy_process+0x4df/0x1cc0 softirqs last disabled at (0): [<0000000000000000>] 0x0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The problem is that irq-work handlers run with interrupts enabled, which means that rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler() could be interrupted, and that interrupt handler might contain an RCU read-side critical section, which might invoke rcu_read_unlock_special(). In the strict KCSAN mode of operation used by RCU, this constitutes a data race on the ->defer_qs_iw_pending field. This commit therefore disables interrupts across the portion of the rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler() that updates the ->defer_qs_iw_pending field. This suffices because this handler is not a fast path.

No weakness data has been published for this record.