Affected: Linux

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

sched/deadline: only set free_cpus for online runqueues

Commit 16b269436b72 ("sched/deadline: Modify cpudl::free_cpus to reflect rd->online") introduced the cpudl_set/clear_freecpu functions to allow the cpu_dl::free_cpus mask to be manipulated by the deadline scheduler class rq_on/offline callbacks so the mask would also reflect this state.

Commit 9659e1eeee28 ("sched/deadline: Remove cpu_active_mask from cpudl_find()") removed the check of the cpu_active_mask to save some processing on the premise that the cpudl::free_cpus mask already reflected the runqueue online state.

Unfortunately, there are cases where it is possible for the cpudl_clear function to set the free_cpus bit for a CPU when the deadline runqueue is offline. When this occurs while a CPU is connected to the default root domain the flag may retain the bad state after the CPU has been unplugged. Later, a different CPU that is transitioning through the default root domain may push a deadline task to the powered down CPU when cpudl_find sees its free_cpus bit is set. If this happens the task will not have the opportunity to run.

One example is outlined here: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250110233010.2339521-1-opendmb@gmail.com

Another occurs when the last deadline task is migrated from a CPU that has an offlined runqueue. The dequeue_task member of the deadline scheduler class will eventually call cpudl_clear and set the free_cpus bit fo…