published September 4, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
futex: Fix race in futex_pivot_pending() during private hash resize
A task performing a custom private hash resize can remain blocked in
uninterruptible sleep indefinitely. The hung-task detector reports:
INFO: task futex-resizer:314 blocked for more than 10 seconds.
task:futex-resizer state:D stack:14824 pid:314 tgid:312 ppid:311
Call Trace:
__schedule+0x521/0xf30
schedule+0x22/0xa0
futex_hash_allocate+0x3db/0x490
__do_sys_prctl+0x6f5/0xbd0
do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x530
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
Kernel panic - not syncing: hung_task: blocked tasks
futex_pivot_pending() allows the resize request to continue when
either no replacement hash is pending (hash_new == NULL) or the current
hash reference count has reached zero.
After the final-reference wake, another futex task can complete the
pivot between the two observations:
T1 T2
futex_hash_allocate()
wait_var_event(mm, ...)
futex_pivot_pending(mm)
hash_new != NULL
futex_hash()
futex_ref_get(old) -> false
futex_pivot_hash(mm)
hash_new = NULL
__futex_pivot_hash(mm, new)
rcu_assign_pointer(hash, new)
fph = rcu_dereference(hash) /* new */
futex_ref_is_dead(fph) -> false
schedule()
The pivot changes the state from hash_new != NULL with a dead current
hash to hash_new == NULL with a live current hash. Because
futex_pivot_pending() reads hash_new and hash without serialization,
the resize task can observe hash_new in the pre-pivot state and hash in
the post-pivot state, causing futex_pivot_pending() to return false even
though the pivot has completed. The task then goes to sleep after the
wakeup has already been consumed.
Serialize state reads in futex_pivot_pending() using futex_mm_phash::lock.
This guarantees that futex_pivot_pending() observes hash_new and hash
atomically, eliminating the race condition.