What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities
CVE-2026-53331: slimbus: qcom-ngd-ctrl: Avoid ABBA on tx_lock/ctrl->lock
- Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
- Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
- EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
- Public exploit or detection template: none known
- Published: 2026-07-01 · updated 2026-07-23
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: slimbus: qcom-ngd-ctrl: Avoid ABBA on tx_lock/ctrl->lock During the SSR/PDR down notification the tx_lock is taken with the intent to provide synchronization with active DMA transfers. But during this period qcom_slim_ngd_down() is invoked, which ends up in slim_report_absent(), which takes the slim_controller lock. In multiple other codepaths these two locks are taken in the opposite order (i.e. slim_controller then tx_lock). The result is a lockdep splat, and a possible deadlock: rprocctl/449 is trying to acquire lock: ffff00009793e620 (&ctrl->lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: slim_report_absent (drivers/slimbus/core.c:322) slimbus but task is already holding lock: ffff00009793fb50 (&ctrl->tx_lock){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: qcom_slim_ngd_ssr_pdr_notify (drivers/slimbus/qcom-ngd-ctrl.c:1475) slim_qcom_ngd_ctrl which lock already depends on the new lock. Possible unsafe locking scenario: CPU0 CPU1 ---- ---- lock(&ctrl->tx_lock); lock(&ctrl->lock); lock(&ctrl->tx_lock); lock(&ctrl->lock); The assumption is that the comment refers to the desire to not call qcom_slim_ngd_exit_dma() while we have an ongoing DMA TX transaction. But any such transaction is initiated and completed within a single qcom_slim_ngd_xfer_msg(). Prior to calling qcom_slim_ngd_exit_dma() the slim_controller is torn down, all child devices are notified that the slimbus is gone and the child devices are removed. Stop taking the tx_lock in qcom_slim_ngd_ssr_pdr_notify() to avoid the deadlock.
Affected products
- Linux kernel: from 5.11 before 5.15.210; from 5.16 before 6.1.176; from 6.2 before 6.6.143; from 6.7 before 6.12.94; from 6.13 before 6.18.36; from 6.19 before 7.0.13 — fixed in 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.12.94, 6.18.36, 6.6.143, 7.0.13
How to fix
Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.12.94, 6.18.36. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d1561537237c6cc1db76155183d8bbdac2339f0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/55f2ea9ff83cc27a85526b14bc9b32f96a08d6ec
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9708eb50fd7343145b422be852f890212155d845
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f0d45d509b434c54da10e01f4ef8086e4583401
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aad4337a21b9ad3ae8d668fa8678d05e26ecbaa8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d54a221b0f3cd9e1f03f18104be34e02a8258fae
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dc4d5c57e012c2c669793deb1515a57bbc6bf5dd
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