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CVE-2026-68263
drm/imagination: Fix double call to drm_sched_entity_fini()
Published 2026-08-10 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/gpu. Debian urgency: unimportant.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-68263 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | not affected | 6.1.190-1 | Nothing to do. bookworm never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.101-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.101-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.1.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 12bookworm · linux-6.12 | fixedDLA-4745-1 · 2026-08-18 · text | 6.12.101-1~deb12u1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4745-1 shipped the fix on 2026-08-18, in 6.12.101-1~deb12u1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
Call sequence of double call: pvr_context_destroy pvr_context_kill_queues pvr_queue_kill drm_sched_entity_destroy drm_sched_entity_fini // here pvr_context_put kref_put(..., pvr_context_release) pvr_context_destroy_queues pvr_queue_destroy drm_sched_entity_fini // here Call to drm_sched_entity_destroy() from pvr_context_kill_queues() calls drm_sched_entity_flush() + drm_sched_entity_fini(). drm_sched_entity_flush() ensures all pending jobs are completed and drm_sched_entity_fini() ensures no further submission is allowed as per expectation from pvr_context_kill_queues(). Double call to drm_sched_entity_fini() is misuse of the API so keep call only in pvr_context_create() failure path. Stack trace for issue with addition of refcounting for DRM entity stats in commit fd177135f0e6 ("drm/sched: Account entity GPU time"): [ 789.490527] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 789.490559] refcount_t: underflow; use-after-free. [ 789.490657] WARNING: lib/refcount.c:28 at refcount_warn_saturate+0xf4/0x144, CPU#0: kworker/u16:1/440 [ 789.490695] Modules linked in: powervr drm_gpuvm drm_exec gpu_sched drm_shmem_helper xhci_plat_hcd xhci_hcd dwc3 usbcore usb_common snd_soc_simple_card snd_soc_simple_card_utils sa2ul sha512 sha256 dwc3_am62 sha1 authenc rti_wdt libsha512 at24 sch_fq_codel fuse dm_mod ipv6 [ 789.490798] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 440 Comm: kworker/u16:1 Not tainted 7.0.0-rc7-02049-g5e2c0700091b #22 PREEMPT [ 789.490809] Hardware name: Texas Instruments AM625 SK (DT) [ 789.490815] Workqueue: powervr-sched pvr_queue_fence_release_work [powervr] [ 789.490868] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 789.490876] pc : refcount_warn_saturate+0xf4/0x144 [ 789.490884] lr : refcount_warn_saturate+0xf4/0x144 [ 789.490892] sp : ffff8000822cbcc0 [ 789.490895] x29: ffff8000822cbcc0 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000000 [ 789.490909] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: ffff800081b1e338 x24: ffff000004541405 [ 789.490922] x23: ffff000004bea950 x22: ffff00000042e400 x21: ffff000007123e30 [ 789.490935] x20: ffff000007123000 x19: ffff000007a80d50 x18: fffffffffffe7768 [ 789.490948] x17: 74736574202c6e6f x16: 697461746e656d65 x15: ffff800081b269f0 [ 789.490962] x14: 0000000000000030 x13: ffff800081b26a70 x12: 0000000000000211 [ 789.490975] x11: 00000000000000c0 x10: 0000000000000b50 x9 : ffff8000822cbb30 [ 789.490988] x8 : ffff0000014e7bb0 x7 : ffff00007725e780 x6 : 0000000372a05f49 [ 789.491001] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000001 x3 : 0000000000000010 [ 789.491013] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff0000014e7000 [ 789.491027] Call trace: [ 789.491032] refcount_warn_saturate+0xf4/0x144 (P) [ 789.491043] drm_sched_entity_fini+0x164/0x18c [gpu_sched] [ 789.491081] pvr_queue_destroy+0x64/0x134 [powervr] [ 789.491110] pvr_context_destroy_queues+0x34/0x64 [powervr] [ 789.491138] pvr_context_release+0x70/0xac [powervr] [ 789.491166] pvr_context_put.part.0+0x5c/0x7c [powervr] [ 789.491193] pvr_context_put+0x14/0x24 [powervr] [ 789.491221] pvr_queue_fence_release_work+0x20/0x38 [powervr] [ 789.491249] process_one_work+0x160/0x4c4 [ 789.491264] worker_thread+0x188/0x310 [ 789.491276] kthread+0x130/0x13c [ 789.491287] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [ 789.491300] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
drivers/gpu/drm/imagination/pvr_context.c
drivers/gpu/drm/imagination/pvr_queue.c
drivers/gpu/drm/imagination/pvr_queue.h
- What this is
- IMGTEC POWERVR DRM DRIVERMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/gpu/drm/imagination/ · Supported
- Kernel module
- powervr
Check it on the machine
grep -w CONFIG_DRM_POWERVR /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
lsmod | grep -w powervrPrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian does not build this code in 2 releases. It does build it in 2 releases, so the answer depends on which release the machine runs. The build rule could not be established for 1 release, so nothing is claimed about those.
- bookworm?
- trixien
- forky, sidMnot built on amd64/amd64, amd64/cloud-amd64, amd64/rt-amd64, arm64/arm64, arm64/arm64-16k, arm64/cloud-arm64, arm64/rt-arm64, armhf/armmp, armhf/armmp-lpae, loong64/loong64, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, s390x/s390x
- bookworm · linux-6.12n
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
- n
- not enabled on any flavour - this release does not build the code
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
Where a release above reads "not established", no build rule for the affected file was found in that release's kernel tree. That is a gap in this lookup, not a finding that the code is absent.
- Build switch
- CONFIG_DRM_POWERVR
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-08-10 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.12%, higher than 2.0% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- unimportantsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/gpu
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.8 | 6.12.101 | 9be3f4bd6f51 |
| 6.8 | 6.18.42 | c88fdbf3da26 |
| 6.8 | 7.1.6 | c1136d907fd0 |
| 6.8 | 7.2 | 4af24c27a39b |
Debian advisories
| Advisory | Date | Shipped to | Debian |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLA-4745-1 | 2026-08-18 | bookworm 6.12.101-1~deb12u1 | tracker |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:LAttack vector, local
- The bug is reached only through the PowerVR DRM render node (/dev/dri/renderD*) via the DRM_IOCTL_PVR_CREATE_CONTEXT / SUBMIT_JOBS / DESTROY_CONTEXT ioctls or by closing the DRM file descriptor, which requires local access to the device.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- pvr_context_destroy() unconditionally calls drm_sched_entity_destroy() (fini #1) and pvr_context_release() then calls drm_sched_entity_fini() again, so the extra stats kref put happens deterministically on every context teardown; the attacker also controls job submission, so keeping a job reference alive over the free window is trivially arranged.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- All involved ioctls are marked DRM_RENDER_ALLOW, so any unprivileged local user (or sandboxed app on Android/embedded systems) that can open the render node — the normal configuration for graphics clients — can drive the path; no capability is required.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- The attacker performs the whole sequence itself with open(), a few ioctls and close(); no action by another user or administrator is needed.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The corruption stays within kernel memory managed by the same kernel security authority; no VM, IOMMU or sandbox boundary is crossed.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- The duplicate drm_sched_entity_stats_put() frees the kref'd drm_sched_entity_stats slab object while in-flight jobs still hold pointers to it, so subsequent scheduler accesses read freed memory that an unprivileged process can reallocate and spray, allowing disclosure of arbitrary kernel data.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- After the premature free, drm_sched_entity_stats_job_add_gpu_time() takes stats->lock and writes stats->runtime into reclaimed memory, giving a use-after-free write into an attacker-groomable kmalloc object that can be leveraged for privilege escalation.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The refcount underflow triggers a WARNING splat and the resulting use-after-free on the entity stats object corrupts kernel heap state from the scheduler workqueue, readily causing an oops or panic.