CVE-2026-98865: sched_ext: Don't run ops.dequeue() with a DSQ lock held

Severity: unknown
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-10-18 · updated 2026-10-19

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched_ext: Don't run ops.dequeue() with a DSQ lock held ops.dequeue() is invoked with the source user DSQ's lock still held on the consume and move paths (scx_consume_dispatch_q(), move_task_between_dsqs()). A BPF scheduler which locks the source user DSQ from ops.dequeue() - e.g. by iterating it with bpf_iter_scx_dsq - self-deadlocks. ops.dequeue() can only call the "any" kfuncs and none of them can lock a builtin DSQ, so the global and bypass paths can't deadlock; however, all DSQ locks share one lockdep class, so iterating any user DSQ from ops.dequeue() on those paths trips the recursion check. Move the invocation after the DSQ unlock on all three paths. SCX_TASK_IN_CUSTODY is cleared under the lock serializing the transfer so that the callback is invoked exactly once.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 7.1 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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