CVE-2026-23311 perf/core: Fix invalid wait context in ctx_sched_in()
A race condition in the Linux kernel's perf subsystem can cause a deadlock or crash when scheduling pinned events, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-23311?
CVE-2026-23311 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
perf/core: Fix invalid wait context in ctx_sched_in()
Lockdep found a bug in the event scheduling when a pinned event was failed and wakes up the threads in the ring buffer like below.
It seems it should not grab a wait-queue lock under perf-context lock. Let's do it with irq_work.
[ 39.913691] ============================= [ 39.914157] [ BUG: Invalid wait context ] [ 39.914623] 6.15.0-next-20250530-next-2025053 #1 Not tainted [ 39.915271] ----------------------------- [ 39.915731] repro/837 is trying to lock: [ 39.916191] ffff88801acfabd8 (&event->waitq){....}-{3:3}, at: __wake_up+0x26/0x60 [ 39.917182] other info that might help us debug this: [ 39.917761] context-{5:5} [ 39.918079] 4 locks held by repro/837: [ 39.918530] #0: ffffffff8725cd00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: __perf_event_task_sched_in+0xd1/0xbc0 [ 39.919612] #1: ffff88806ca3c6f8 (&cpuctx_lock){....}-{2:2}, at: __perf_event_task_sched_in+0x1a7/0xbc0 [ 39.920748] #2: ffff88800d91fc18 (&ctx->lock){....}-{2:2}, at: __perf_event_task_sched_in+0x1f9/0xbc0 [ 39.921819] #3: ffffffff8725cd00 (rcu_read_lock){....}-{1:3}, at: perf_event_wakeup+0x6c/0x470
Weakness: CWE-667
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23311?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23311?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-23311 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23311 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23311, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23311, GHSA-h7wr-qv5c-937x, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23311.