Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-45919 is a medium-severity Infinite Loop (CWE-835) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-32385
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched/rt: Skip currently executing CPU in rto_next_cpu() CPU0 becomes overloaded when hosting a CPU-bound RT task, a non-CPU-bound RT task, and a CFS task stuck in kernel space. When other…
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CPUs switch from RT to non-RT tasks, RT load balancing (LB) is triggered; with HAVE_RT_PUSH_IPI enabled, they send IPIs to CPU0 to drive the execution of rto_push_irq_work_func. During push_rt_task on CPU0, if next_task->prio < rq->donor->prio, resched_curr() sets NEED_RESCHED and after the push operation completes, CPU0 calls rto_next_cpu(). Since only CPU0 is overloaded in this scenario, rto_next_cpu() should ideally return -1 (no further IPI needed). However, multiple CPUs invoking tell_cpu_to_push() during LB increments rd->rto_loop_next. Even when rd->rto_cpu is set to -1, the mismatch between rd->rto_loop and rd->rto_loop_next forces rto_next_cpu() to restart its search from -1. With CPU0 remaining overloaded (satisfying rt_nr_migratory && rt_nr_total > 1), it gets reselected, causing CPU0 to queue irq_work to itself and send self-IPIs repeatedly. As long as CPU0 stays overloaded and other CPUs run pull_rt_tasks(), it falls into an infinite self-IPI loop, which triggers a CPU hardlockup due to continuous self-interrupts. The trigging scenario is as follows: cpu0 cpu1 cpu2 pull_rt_task tell_cpu_to_push <------------irq_work_queue_on rto_push_irq_work_func push_rt_task resched_curr(rq) pull_rt_task rto_next_cpu tell_cpu_to_push <-------------------------- atomic_inc(rto_loop_next) rd->rto_loop != next rto_next_cpu irq_work_queue_on rto_push_irq_work_func Fix redundant self-IPI by filtering the initiating CPU in rto_next_cpu(). This solution has been verified to effectively eliminate spurious self-IPIs and prevent CPU hardlockup scenarios.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Kernel scheduler flaw enables local trigger of infinite self-IPI loop causing hardlockup (Endpoint DoS via system exploitation).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires applying the kernel patch that corrects rto_next_cpu() loop handling and prevents the self-IPI storm.
Limits the impact of the unbounded IPI loop by enforcing denial-of-service protections on CPU interrupt resources.
Enables monitoring of interrupt and scheduler activity to identify the anomalous self-IPI pattern before hardlockup.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing can uncover infinite-loop conditions before release.
Secure development life cycle mandates practices that can detect and prevent infinite-loop defects.
Application security requirements can specify loop-termination rules, indirectly reducing the weakness.
Secure coding standards directly address loop termination and prevent infinite loops.
Secure architecture principles encourage designs that avoid unreachable exit conditions.
Change management can require review of loop logic when code is modified.