Graphical-session hang via recursive fence-list locking
Published Aug 20, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper locking in the Linux vmwgfx driver allows local users to hang graphical sessions through dma-buf fence polling. The vmwgfx fence wait callback holds the pending-fence-list lock while signaling fences, and the polling callback then drops its fence reference, invoking destruction that tries to reacquire the same lock. A local process must use the dma-buf polling interface on a system running the vmwgfx driver; the resulting deadlock stalls affected desktop sessions, including KDE.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in the Linux vmwgfx driver allows local users to hang graphical sessions through dma-buf fence polling. The vmwgfx fence wait callback holds the pending-fence-list lock while signaling fences, and the polling callback then drops its fence reference, invoking destruction that tries to reacquire the same lock. A local process must use the dma-buf polling interface on a system running the vmwgfx driver; the resulting deadlock stalls affected desktop sessions, including KDE.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-43863
- Published
- Aug 20, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 20, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=2298e804e96eb3635c39519c8287befd92460303 <3b933b16c996af8adb6bc1b5748a63dfb41a82bc
- Affected versionversion=2298e804e96eb3635c39519c8287befd92460303 <9908dc0d2ef0e4aec8a242c098455729c0e2f017
- Affected versionversion=2298e804e96eb3635c39519c8287befd92460303 <9e20d028d8d1deb1e7fed18f22ffc01669cf3237
- Affected versionversion=2298e804e96eb3635c39519c8287befd92460303 <a8943969f9ead2fd3044fc826140a21622ef830e
- Affected versionversion=2298e804e96eb3635c39519c8287befd92460303 <c98ab18b9f315ff977c2c65d7c71298ef98be8e3
- Affected versionversion=2298e804e96eb3635c39519c8287befd92460303 <e58337100721f3cc0c7424a18730e4f39844934f
- Affected versionversion=3.18
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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