System hang via DRM scheduler queue race
Published Aug 16, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Race condition in the Linux kernel DRM scheduler allows local users to halt GPU job scheduling and hang DMA-fence waiters. The queue push can report a non-first job after the run-job worker has idled at a zero job count because the code appends to the SPSC queue before incrementing that count. Exploitation requires low-privilege local access and specific concurrent timing; the race was observed with the Xe driver in an SVM test, and the reported consequence is availability loss only.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in the Linux kernel DRM scheduler allows local users to halt GPU job scheduling and hang DMA-fence waiters. The queue push can report a non-first job after the run-job worker has idled at a zero job count because the code appends to the SPSC queue before incrementing that count. Exploitation requires low-privilege local access and specific concurrent timing; the race was observed with the Xe driver in an SVM test, and the reported consequence is availability loss only.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-38515
- Published
- Aug 16, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 16, 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=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <549a9c78c3ea6807d0dc4162a4f5ba59f217d5a0
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <8af39ec5cf2be522c8eb43a3d8005ed59e4daaee
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <c64f5310530baf75328292f9b9f3f2961d185183
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <e2d6547dc8b9b332f9bc00875197287a6a4db65a
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <e62f51d0ec8a9baf324caf9a564f8e318d36a551
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <ef58a95457466849fa7b31fd3953801a5af0f58b
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <ef841f8e4e1ff67817ca899bedc5ebb00847c0a7
- Affected versionversion=27105db6c63a571b91d01e749d026105a1e63bcf <f9a4f28a4fc4ee453a92a9abbe36e26224d17749
- Affected versionversion=4.16
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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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