CVE-2026-93181 PUBLISHED

perf/x86/intel/uncore: Fix uncore_box ref/unref ordering

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 17.09.2026 Published: 17.09.2026 Updated: 17.09.2026

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

perf/x86/intel/uncore: Fix uncore_box ref/unref ordering

In uncore_event_cpu_online(), uncore_box_ref() was called before uncore_change_context(). uncore_box_ref() gates on box->cpu >= 0, but box->cpu is still -1 at that point because uncore_change_context() has not run yet. As a result, the box is never initialized on the first CPU to come online in a die, leaving it permanently uninitialized in the single-CPU-per-die case.

Thus, box->refcnt is one count below the true value, and in the CPU offline path, the box will be torn down on the second-to-last CPU.

In uncore_event_cpu_offline(), uncore_box_unref() was called after uncore_change_context(), so box->cpu is already -1 when the collector CPU goes offline, which prevents it from tearing down the box.

Fix by swapping the call order in both paths so that uncore_box_{ref,unref}() runs at the point where box->cpu reflects the correct context.

Move allocate_boxes() out of uncore_box_ref() to enable this reordering.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from c74443d92f68f07c03ae242ced554b749e6c6736 to 64aa1bb4017d598828c6d8cd718f43daf2a83375 (excl.)
  • affected from c74443d92f68f07c03ae242ced554b749e6c6736 to 174f0582e38abe03b88e15f04bfe58490f88cb19 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 6.11 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 6.11 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.6 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc1 to * (incl.)

References