CVE-2026-97960 PUBLISHED

perf/x86/intel: Prevent drain_pebs() reentry

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 25.09.2026 Updated: 25.09.2026

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

perf/x86/intel: Prevent drain_pebs() reentry

The PEBS buffer is shared by all events on a CPU, so drain_pebs() must not be reentered. If so, one instance may observe stale buffer state and potentially access out-of-bound memory.

Most invocations happen in NMI context, which naturally prevents reentry. However, drain_pebs() is also reachable from process context via intel_pmu_drain_pebs_buffer().

In those paths, the PMU is often already disabled, but not guaranteed. For example, __intel_pmu_pebs_disable() only disables the target counter, so other active counters can still raise a PMI and interrupt an in-flight drain_pebs(). Here is an example,

__perf_addr_filters_adjust() perf_event_stop() __perf_event_stop() x86_pmu_stop() (event->pmu->stop) intel_pmu_disable_event() intel_pmu_pebs_disable() __intel_pmu_pebs_disable() intel_pmu_drain_large_pebs() intel_pmu_drain_pebs_buffer()

Introduce __intel_pmu_quiesce() and __intel_pmu_resume() helpers and use them in intel_pmu_drain_large_pebs() to disable the full PMU around the intel_pmu_drain_pebs_buffer() call, preventing reentry.

Also add a warning in intel_pmu_drain_pebs_buffer() when the full PMU is not disabled.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from b752ea0c28e3f7f0aaaad6abf84f735eebc37a60 to a5fe19dd8b3ed5fad6e5e0f0c58c7245043ee4af (excl.)
  • affected from b752ea0c28e3f7f0aaaad6abf84f735eebc37a60 to c55599c0ec2aa020e41a0599c3044c56d8a2e7d9 (excl.)
  • affected from b752ea0c28e3f7f0aaaad6abf84f735eebc37a60 to a56c03a397e2cd0c4cf8da96dcd6214f7d0e7d8c (excl.)
  • Version a9165207b2b07415eeb01b3ac8bb84976ec96984 is affected
  • affected from 6.3.7 to 6.4 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 6.4 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 6.4 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.53 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.7 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc3 to * (incl.)

References