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

powerpc/smp: do not decrement idle task preempt count in CPU offline

With PREEMPT_COUNT=y, when a CPU is offlined and then onlined again, we
get:

BUG: scheduling while atomic: swapper/1/0/0x00000000
no locks held by swapper/1/0.
CPU: 1 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/1 Not tainted 5.15.0-rc2+ #100
Call Trace:
dump_stack_lvl+0xac/0x108
__schedule_bug+0xac/0xe0
__schedule+0xcf8/0x10d0
schedule_idle+0x3c/0x70
do_idle+0x2d8/0x4a0
cpu_startup_entry+0x38/0x40
start_secondary+0x2ec/0x3a0
start_secondary_prolog+0x10/0x14

This is because powerpc's arch_cpu_idle_dead() decrements the idle task's
preempt count, for reasons explained in commit a7c2bb8279d2 ("powerpc:
Re-enable preemption before cpu_die()"), specifically "start_secondary()
expects a preempt_count() of 0."

However, since commit 2c669ef6979c ("powerpc/preempt: Don't touch the idle
task's preempt_count during hotplug") and commit f1a0a376ca0c ("sched/core:
Initialize the idle task with preemption disabled"), that justification no
longer holds.

The idle task isn't supposed to re-enable preemption, so remove the
vestigial preempt_enable() from the CPU offline path.

Tested with pseries and powernv in qemu, and pseries on PowerVM.
Published: 2024-05-22
Score: 5.5 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

No analysis available yet.

Remediation

No remediation available yet.

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Weaknesses NVD-CWE-noinfo
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.15:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 4.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}


Wed, 13 Nov 2024 02:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat enterprise Linux

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Subscriptions

Linux Linux Kernel
Redhat Enterprise Linux
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published:

Updated: 2025-05-04T12:41:30.543Z

Reserved: 2024-05-21T14:58:30.833Z

Link: CVE-2021-47454

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2024-08-04T05:39:59.627Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Analyzed

Published: 2024-05-22T07:15:10.453

Modified: 2025-09-29T16:48:58.817

Link: CVE-2021-47454

cve-icon Redhat

Severity : Moderate

Publid Date: 2024-05-22T00:00:00Z

Links: CVE-2021-47454 - Bugzilla

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses