CVE-2025-38389

drm/i915/gt: Fix timeline left held on VMA alloc error

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: July 25, 2025 at 12:53 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 09:16 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsLinux KernelDebian Linux

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/i915/gt: Fix timeline left held on VMA alloc error The following error has been reported sporadically by CI when a test unbinds the i915 driver on a ring submission platform: <4> [239.330153] ------------[ cut here ]------------ <4> [239.330166] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] drm_WARN_ON(dev_priv->mm.shrink_count) <4> [239.330196] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 18570 at drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c:1309 i915_gem_cleanup_early+0x13e/0x150 [i915] ... <4> [239.330640] RIP: 0010:i915_gem_cleanup_early+0x13e/0x150 [i915] ... <4> [239.330942] Call Trace: <4> [239.330944] <TASK> <4> [239.330949] i915_driver_late_release+0x2b/0xa0 [i915] <4> [239.331202] i915_driver_release+0x86/0xa0 [i915] <4> [239.331482] devm_drm_dev_init_release+0x61/0x90 <4> [239.331494] devm_action_release+0x15/0x30 <4> [239.331504] release_nodes+0x3d/0x120 <4> [239.331517] devres_release_all+0x96/0xd0 <4> [239.331533] device_unbind_cleanup+0x12/0x80 <4> [239.331543] device_release_driver_internal+0x23a/0x280 <4> [239.331550] ? bus_find_device+0xa5/0xe0 <4> [239.331563] device_driver_detach+0x14/0x20 ... <4> [357.719679] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- If the test also unloads the i915 module then that's followed with: <3> [357.787478] ============================================================================= <3> [357.788006] BUG i915_vma (Tainted: G U W N ): Objects remaining on __kmem_cache_shutdown() <3> [357.788031] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- <3> [357.788204] Object 0xffff888109e7f480 @offset=29824 <3> [357.788670] Allocated in i915_vma_instance+0xee/0xc10 [i915] age=292729 cpu=4 pid=2244 <4> [357.788994] i915_vma_instance+0xee/0xc10 [i915] <4> [357.789290] init_status_page+0x7b/0x420 [i915] <4> [357.789532] intel_engines_init+0x1d8/0x980 [i915] <4> [357.789772] intel_gt_init+0x175/0x450 [i915] <4> [357.790014] i915_gem_init+0x113/0x340 [i915] <4> [357.790281] i915_driver_probe+0x847/0xed0 [i915] <4> [357.790504] i915_pci_probe+0xe6/0x220 [i915] ... Closer analysis of CI results history has revealed a dependency of the error on a few IGT tests, namely: - igt@api_intel_allocator@fork-simple-stress-signal, - igt@api_intel_allocator@two-level-inception-interruptible, - igt@gem_linear_blits@interruptible, - igt@prime_mmap_coherency@ioctl-errors, which invisibly trigger the issue, then exhibited with first driver unbind attempt. All of the above tests perform actions which are actively interrupted with signals. Further debugging has allowed to narrow that scope down to DRM_IOCTL_I915_GEM_EXECBUFFER2, and ring_context_alloc(), specific to ring submission, in particular. If successful then that function, or its execlists or GuC submission equivalent, is supposed to be called only once per GEM context engine, followed by raise of a flag that prevents the function from being called again. The function is expected to unwind its internal errors itself, so it may be safely called once more after it returns an error. In case of ring submission, the function first gets a reference to the engine's legacy timeline and then allocates a VMA. If the VMA allocation fails, e.g. when i915_vma_instance() called from inside is interrupted with a signal, then ring_context_alloc() fails, leaving the timeline held referenced. On next I915_GEM_EXECBUFFER2 IOCTL, another reference to the timeline is got, and only that last one is put on successful completion. As a consequence, the legacy timeline, with its underlying engine status page's VMA object, is still held and not released on driver unbind. Get the legacy timeline only after successful allocation of the context engine's VMA. v2: Add a note on other submission methods (Krzysztof Karas): Both execlists and GuC submission use lrc_alloc() which seems free from a similar issue. (cherry picked from commit cc43422b3cc79eacff4c5a8ba0d224688ca9dd4f)

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

5.11 ≤ v < 5.15.1875.16 ≤ v < 6.1.1445.4 ≤ v < 5.10.2405.4 ≤ v < 5.15.1875.4 ≤ v < 5.4.2965.4 ≤ v < 6.1.1445.4 ≤ v < 6.12.375.4 ≤ v < 6.15.65.4 ≤ v < 6.165.4 ≤ v < 6.6.975.5 ≤ v < 5.10.2406.13 ≤ v < 6.15.66.2 ≤ v < 6.6.976.7 ≤ v < 6.12.375.46.16 rc16.16 rc26.16 rc36.16 rc475d0a7f31eec8ec4a53b4485905800e09dc5091f
Vendor states this is fixed in 40e09506aea1fde1f3e0e04eca531bbb23404baf (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4c778c96e469fb719b11683e0a3be8ea68052fa2 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5a7ae7bebdc4c2ecd48a2c061319956f65c09473 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 60b757730884e4a223152a68d9b5f625dac94119 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in a5aa7bc1fca78c7fa127d9e33aa94a0c9066c1d6 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c542d62883f62ececafcb630a1c5010133826bea (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in e47d7d6edc40a6ace7cc04e5893759fee68569f5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in f10af34261448610d4048ac6e6af87f80e3881a4 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.240 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.187 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.296 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.144 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.37 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.15.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.16 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.97 (unaffected)

References (10)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40e09506aea1fde1f3e0e04eca531bbb23404baf
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4c778c96e469fb719b11683e0a3be8ea68052fa2
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a7ae7bebdc4c2ecd48a2c061319956f65c09473
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/60b757730884e4a223152a68d9b5f625dac94119
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a5aa7bc1fca78c7fa127d9e33aa94a0c9066c1d6
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c542d62883f62ececafcb630a1c5010133826bea
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e47d7d6edc40a6ace7cc04e5893759fee68569f5
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f10af34261448610d4048ac6e6af87f80e3881a4

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfo

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