In the Linux kernel's DMA engine, an accidental race condition was found in the dw_edma abort handler. The abort function releases a lock before it changes the request and status fields. During that narrow window the helper routine can acquire the lock, see the old busy state, and skip starting queued descriptors. The abort handler then reports the channel as idle, leaving any new descriptors in limbo. The result is that DMA operations never complete, which can stall services that depend on the DMA engine and potentially hang the system.

The flaw exists in all Linux kernels that use the dw_edma DMA driver from the Linux vendor. No specific kernel versions were listed, so the vulnerability may affect any build using the default dw_edma driver.

The EPSS score for this flaw is below 1 % and the issue is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, indicating a low probability of exploitation. The described race requires an entity that can trigger an abort on the dw_edma channel, which usually implies local privileged access. No evidence of remote exploitation is provided, but the lack of a security boundary makes the flaw potentially useful for privilege‑escalation or denial‑of‑service attacks within a kernel.