Graphics processing hang via recursive fence locking
Published Apr 1, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper locking in the PowerVR DRM scheduler in Linux allows local users to hang graphics processing through fence release. The fence release path runs scheduler-queue cleanup synchronously while a DMA-BUF reservation mutex is held, and pvr_gem_object_vunmap then tries to acquire another mutex of the same class. Reaching the flaw requires local low-privileged access to the affected PowerVR DRM path; the resulting recursive lock can deadlock graphics work without affecting confidentiality or integrity.
Summary
What happened
Improper locking in the PowerVR DRM scheduler in Linux allows local users to hang graphics processing through fence release. The fence release path runs scheduler-queue cleanup synchronously while a DMA-BUF reservation mutex is held, and pvr_gem_object_vunmap then tries to acquire another mutex of the same class. Reaching the flaw requires local low-privileged access to the affected PowerVR DRM path; the resulting recursive lock can deadlock graphics work without affecting confidentiality or integrity.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-21911
- Published
- Apr 1, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-667, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 1, 2025CVE 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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=6.8
- Affected versionversion=eaf01ee5ba28b97f96a3d3eec4c5fbfb37ee4cde <9bd8b8d34cf4efba18766d64f817c819ed1bbde7
- Affected versionversion=eaf01ee5ba28b97f96a3d3eec4c5fbfb37ee4cde <d993ae7360923efd6ade43a32043459a121c28c1
- Affected versionversion=eaf01ee5ba28b97f96a3d3eec4c5fbfb37ee4cde <df1a1ed5e1bdd9cc13148e0e5549f5ebcf76cf13
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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