Linux kernel: DRM/gem change_handle ioctl race condition
CVE-2026-53145 Published on June 25, 2026

drm/gem: Try to fix change_handle ioctl, attempt 4
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/gem: Try to fix change_handle ioctl, attempt 4 [airlied: just added some comments on how to reenable] On-list because the cat is out of the bag and we're clearly not good enough to figure this out in private. The story thus far: 5e28b7b94408 ("drm: Set old handle to NULL before prime swap in change_handle") tried to fix a race condition between the gem_close and gem_change_handle ioctls, but got a few things wrong: - There's a confusion with the local variable handle, which is actually the new handle, and so the two-stage trick was actually applied to the wrong idr slot. 7164d78559b0 ("drm/gem: fix race between change_handle and handle_delete") tried to fix that by adding yet another code block, but forgot to add the error handling. Which meant we now have two paths, both kinda wrong. - dc366607c41c ("drm: Replace old pointer to new idr") tried to apply another fix, but inconsistently, again because of the handle confusion - this would be the right fix (kinda, somewhat, it's a mess) if we'd do the two-stage approach for the new handle. Except that wasn't the intent of the original fix. We also didn't have an igt merged for the original ioctl, which is a big no-go. This was attempted to address off-list in the original bugfix, and amd QA people claimed the bug was fixed now. Very clearly that's not the case. Here's my attempt to sort this out: - Rename the local variable to new_handle, the old aliasing with args->handle is just too dangerously confusing. - Merge the gem obj lookup with the two-stage idr_replace so that we avoid getting ourselves confused there. - This means we don't have a surplus temporary reference anymore, only an inherited from the idr. A concurrent gem_close on the new_handle could steal that. Fix that with the same two-stage approach create_tail uses. This is a bit overkill as documented in the comment, but I also don't trust my ability to understand this all correctly, so go with the established pattern we have from other ioctls instead for maximum paranoia. - Adjust error paths. I've tried to make the error and success paths common, because they are identical except for which handle is removed and on which we call idr_replace to (re)install the object again. But that made things messier to read, so I've left it at the more verbose version, which unfortunately hides the symmetry in the entire code flow a bit. - While at it, also replace the 7 space indent with 1 tab. And finally, because I flat out don't trust my abilities here at all anymore: - Disable the ioctl until we have the igt situation and everything else sorted out on-list and with full consensus. v2: Sashiko noticed that I didn't handle the error path for idr_replace correctly, it must be checked with IS_ERR_OR_NULL like in gem_handle_delete. So yeah, definitely should just the existing paths 1:1 because this is endless amounts of tricky. Also add the Fixes: line for the original ioctl, I forgot that too.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-53145 can be exploited with local system access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
HIGH
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is a TOCTTOU Vulnerability?

The software checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check. This can cause the software to perform invalid actions when the resource is in an unexpected state. This weakness can be security-relevant when an attacker can influence the state of the resource between check and use. This can happen with shared resources such as files, memory, or even variables in multithreaded programs.

CVE-2026-53145 has been classified to as a TOCTTOU vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-53145

stack.watch emails you whenever new vulnerabilities are published in Linux Kernel or Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Just hit a watch button to start following.

Linux Kernel
 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
 

Affected Versions

Linux: Linux: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6: