CVE-2026-43438 PUBLISHED

sched_ext: Remove redundant css_put() in scx_cgroup_init()

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 01.05.2026 Published: 08.05.2026 Updated: 08.05.2026

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

sched_ext: Remove redundant css_put() in scx_cgroup_init()

The iterator css_for_each_descendant_pre() walks the cgroup hierarchy under cgroup_lock(). It does not increment the reference counts on yielded css structs.

According to the cgroup documentation, css_put() should only be used to release a reference obtained via css_get() or css_tryget_online(). Since the iterator does not use either of these to acquire a reference, calling css_put() in the error path of scx_cgroup_init() causes a refcount underflow.

Remove the unbalanced css_put() to prevent a potential Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerability.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 8195136669661fdfe54e9a8923c33b31c92fc1da to cc095cd305fddbe25a968e4a78436ff9476cf0f6 (excl.)
  • affected from 8195136669661fdfe54e9a8923c33b31c92fc1da to 6eaaa67d6998f6c30c462b140db8c062e07ec473 (excl.)
  • affected from 8195136669661fdfe54e9a8923c33b31c92fc1da to bf50f3285eda8a0173625fcdb5f183f96e1008cd (excl.)
  • affected from 8195136669661fdfe54e9a8923c33b31c92fc1da to 1336b579f6079fb8520be03624fcd9ba443c930b (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 6.12 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 6.12 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.78 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.19 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.9 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0 to * (incl.)

References