# CVE-2026-31733: sched_ext: Fix stale direct dispatch state in ddsp_dsq_id

> A race condition in the Linux kernel scheduler can cause stale state leading to kernel warnings and potential denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 May 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-31733, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31733, GHSA-84wx-7549-84g8, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-31733

## What is CVE-2026-31733?

CVE-2026-31733 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 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:

sched_ext: Fix stale direct dispatch state in ddsp_dsq_id

@p->scx.ddsp_dsq_id can be left set (non-SCX_DSQ_INVALID) triggering a
spurious warning in mark_direct_dispatch() when the next wakeup's
ops.select_cpu() calls scx_bpf_dsq_insert(), such as:

 WARNING: kernel/sched/ext.c:1273 at scx_dsq_insert_commit+0xcd/0x140

The root cause is that ddsp_dsq_id was only cleared in dispatch_enqueue(),
which is not reached in all paths that consume or cancel a direct dispatch
verdict.

Fix it by clearing it at the right places:

 - direct_dispatch(): cache the direct dispatch state in local variables
   and clear it before dispatch_enqueue() on the synchronous path. For
   the deferred path, the direct dispatch state must remain set until
   process_ddsp_deferred_locals() consumes them.

 - process_ddsp_deferred_locals(): cache the dispatch state in local
   variables and clear it before calling dispatch_to_local_dsq(), which
   may migrate the task to another rq.

 - do_enqueue_task(): clear the dispatch state on the enqueue path
   (local/global/bypass fallbacks), where the direct dispatch verdict is
   ignored.

 - dequeue_task_scx(): clear the dispatch state after dispatch_dequeue()
   to handle both the deferred dispatch cancellation and the holding_cpu
   race, covering all cases where a pending direct dispatch is
   cancelled.

 - scx_disable_task(): clear the direct dispatch state when
   transitioning a task out of the current scheduler. Waking tasks may
   have had the direct dispatch state set by the outgoing scheduler's
   ops.select_cpu() and then been queued on a wake_list via
   ttwu_queue_wakelist(), when SCX_OPS_ALLOW_QUEUED_WAKEUP is set. Such
   tasks are not on the runqueue and are not iterated by scx_bypass(),
   so their direct dispatch state won't be cleared. Without this clear,
   any subsequent SCX scheduler that tries to direct dispatch the task
   will trigger the WARN_ON_ONCE() in mark_direct_dispatch().

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31733?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-31733?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-31733 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31733 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-31733 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-31733 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 1 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31733 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31733/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31733/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31733
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31733
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-31733

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31733/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.