Executive brief
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's graphics driver for Qualcomm Adreno GPUs could allow a local user to cause a system hang or performance degradation. The issue occurs when the system fails to properly reset the graphics processor after a task fails, potentially leading to a persistent unresponsive state. This primarily impacts the availability of devices using these specific graphics chips.
Technical details
A vulnerability in the 'drm/msm' driver's recovery mechanism (msm_gpu.c) allows the GPU to remain in a hung state. The 'recover_worker' function previously included a check that would skip recovery if no additional work was pending, relying on the GPU's suspend/resume cycle to clear the error. However, if the GPU is hung, it may not suspend correctly, and subsequent job submissions will continue to trigger timeouts. An attacker with local access could potentially exploit this by submitting a malformed or complex job that hangs the ring buffer, leading to a denial of service of the graphics subsystem. The fix removes the conditional check to ensure the GPU is always recovered regardless of the pending workload.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 6.18.32, 7.0.9, 7.1
Timeline
- 2026-02-10: other: Patch authored
- 2026-07-19: disclosed: CVE published
- 2026-07-19: patched: Fixes included in stable releases 6.18.32 and 7.0.9