In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched/psi: Shut down rtpoll_timer in psi_cgroup_free() psi_schedule_rtpoll_work() is called locklessly from the scheduler hotpath and can race psi_trigger_destroy() ta…

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/psi: Shut down rtpoll_timer in psi_cgroup_free()

psi_schedule_rtpoll_work() is called locklessly from the scheduler hotpath and can race psi_trigger_destroy() taking down the last rtpoll trigger under rtpoll_trigger_lock:

psi_schedule_rtpoll_work() psi_trigger_destroy()

rcu_read_lock(); task = rcu_dereference(rtpoll_task); rcu_assign_pointer(rtpoll_task, NULL); timer_delete(&rtpoll_timer); mod_timer(&rtpoll_timer, ...); rcu_read_unlock(); synchronize_rcu(); kthread_stop(task_to_destroy);

The group can then be freed with the re-armed timer still pending, and poll_timer_fn() runs on freed memory.

461daba06bdc ("psi: eliminate kthread_worker from psi trigger scheduling mechanism") deleted the timer synchronously after the synchronize_rcu(), which prevented this but raced trigger creation instead: the deletion could cancel the timer that a new trigger set armed during the grace period and, as creation also reinitialized the timer at the time, corrupt it. 8f91efd870ea ("psi: Fix race between psi_trigger_create/destroy") moved the initialization into group_init() and the deletion into the locked section, trading the creation races for the window above.

Neither placement in the destruction path works. A pending timer firing while the group is alive is harmless though. poll_timer_fn() just wakes the rtpoll waitqueue and doesn't re-arm itself. Bind the timer to the group's lifetime instead and shut it down in psi_cgroup_free(). Nothing can arm it by then. timer_shutdown_sync() because the timer is never armed again.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

Vendor advisories

• Red Hat VEX · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · updated 2026-10-26 · vex