CVE-2025-68244
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
drm/i915: Avoid lock inversion when pinning to GGTT on CHV/BXT+VTD
On completion of i915_vma_pin_ww(), a synchronous variant of dma_fence_work_commit() is called. When pinning a VMA to GGTT address space on a Cherry View family processor, or on a Broxton generation SoC with VTD enabled, i.e., when stop_machine() is then called from intel_ggtt_bind_vma(), that can potentially lead to lock inversion among reservation_ww and cpu_hotplug locks.
[86.861179] ====================================================== [86.861193] WARNING: possible circular locking dependency detected [86.861209] 6.15.0-rc5-CI_DRM_16515-gca0305cadc2d+ #1 Tainted: G U [86.861226] ------------------------------------------------------ [86.861238] i915_module_loa/1432 is trying to acquire lock: [86.861252] ffffffff83489090 (cpu_hotplug_lock){++++}-{0:0}, at: stop_machine+0x1c/0x50 [86.861290] but task is already holding lock: [86.861303] ffffc90002e0b4c8 (reservation_ww_class_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: i915_vma_pin.constprop.0+0x39/0x1d0 [i915] [86.862233] which lock already depends on the new lock. [86.862251] the existing dependency chain (in reverse order) is: [86.862265] -> #5 (reservation_ww_class_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}: [86.862292] dma_resv_lockdep+0x19a/0x390 [86.862315] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x3f0 [86.862334] kernel_init_freeable+0x3cd/0x680 [86.862353] kernel_init+0x1b/0x200 [86.862369] ret_from_fork+0x47/0x70 [86.862383] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [86.862399] -> #4 (reservation_ww_class_acquire){+.+.}-{0:0}: [86.862425] dma_resv_lockdep+0x178/0x390 [86.862440] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x3f0 [86.862454] kernel_init_freeable+0x3cd/0x680 [86.862470] kernel_init+0x1b/0x200 [86.862482] ret_from_fork+0x47/0x70 [86.862495] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [86.862509] -> #3 (&mm->mmap_lock){++++}-{3:3}: [86.862531] down_read_killable+0x46/0x1e0 [86.862546] lock_mm_and_find_vma+0xa2/0x280 [86.862561] do_user_addr_fault+0x266/0x8e0 [86.862578] exc_page_fault+0x8a/0x2f0 [86.862593] asm_exc_page_fault+0x27/0x30 [86.862607] filldir64+0xeb/0x180 [86.862620] kernfs_fop_readdir+0x118/0x480 [86.862635] iterate_dir+0xcf/0x2b0 [86.862648] __x64_sys_getdents64+0x84/0x140 [86.862661] x64_sys_call+0x1058/0x2660 [86.862675] do_syscall_64+0x91/0xe90 [86.862689] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e [86.862703] -> #2 (&root->kernfs_rwsem){++++}-{3:3}: [86.862725] down_write+0x3e/0xf0 [86.862738] kernfs_add_one+0x30/0x3c0 [86.862751] kernfs_create_dir_ns+0x53/0xb0 [86.862765] internal_create_group+0x134/0x4c0 [86.862779] sysfs_create_group+0x13/0x20 [86.862792] topology_add_dev+0x1d/0x30 [86.862806] cpuhp_invoke_callback+0x4b5/0x850 [86.862822] cpuhp_issue_call+0xbf/0x1f0 [86.862836] __cpuhp_setup_state_cpuslocked+0x111/0x320 [86.862852] __cpuhp_setup_state+0xb0/0x220 [86.862866] topology_sysfs_init+0x30/0x50 [86.862879] do_one_initcall+0x60/0x3f0 [86.862893] kernel_init_freeable+0x3cd/0x680 [86.862908] kernel_init+0x1b/0x200 [86.862921] ret_from_fork+0x47/0x70 [86.862934] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [86.862947] -> #1 (cpuhp_state_mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}: [86.862969] __mutex_lock+0xaa/0xed0 [86.862982] mutex_lock_nested+0x1b/0x30 [86.862995] __cpuhp_setup_state_cpuslocked+0x67/0x320 [86.863012] __cpuhp_setup_state+0xb0/0x220 [86.863026] page_alloc_init_cpuhp+0x2d/0x60 [86.863041] mm_core_init+0x22/0x2d0 [86.863054] start_kernel+0x576/0xbd0 [86.863068] x86_64_start_reservations+0x18/0x30 [86.863084] x86_64_start_kernel+0xbf/0x110 [86.863098] common_startup_64+0x13e/0x141 [86.863114] -> #0 (cpu_hotplug_lock){++++}-{0:0}: [86.863135] __lock_acquire+0x16 ---truncated---
AI Insight
LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.
In the Linux kernel, a lock inversion between reservation_ww and cpu_hotplug locks occurs in i915 when pinning VMA to GGTT on CHV/BXT+VTD, potentially leading to deadlock.
Vulnerability
Description
CVE-2025-68244 describes a lock inversion vulnerability in the Linux kernel's drm/i915 driver. When pinning a VMA to the GGTT address space on Cherry View (CHV) family processors or Broxton (BXT) SoCs with Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) enabled, the function intel_ggtt_bind_vma() calls stop_machine(), which acquires the cpu_hotplug lock. However, the caller i915_vma_pin_ww() already holds the reservation_ww_class_mutex, creating a circular locking dependency that can lead to deadlock [1][2].
Exploitation
The vulnerability can be triggered by any process that causes a VMA to be pinned to the GGTT on an affected system. No special privileges are required beyond the ability to perform memory management operations that trigger VMA pinning. The attack surface is local, as it requires access to the graphics subsystem.
Impact
If triggered, the lock inversion results in a deadlock, causing the system to hang. This constitutes a denial of service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability does not allow privilege escalation or data leakage, but can render the system unusable until a hard reset.
Mitigation
The issue has been fixed in the Linux kernel by commits [1] and [2] which were applied to stable trees. Users should update their kernels to include these patches. No workarounds are available other than avoiding the use of affected hardware or disabling VT-d on Broxton systems, which is not recommended.
AI Insight generated on May 19, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.
Affected products
1Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.
References
6- git.kernel.org/stable/c/20d94a6117b752fd10a78cefdc1cf2c16706048bnvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/3dec22bde207a36f1b8a4b80564cbbe13996a7cdnvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/4e73066e3323add260e46eb51f79383d87950281nvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/84bbe327a5cbb060f3321c9d9d4d53936fc1ef9bnvd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/858a50127be714f55c3bcb25621028d4a323d77envd
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e988634d7aae7214818b9c86cd7ef9e78c84b02dnvd
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