CVE-2026-93168

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: xilinx_dma: Fix CPU stall in xilinx_dma_poll_timeout Currently when calling xilinx_dma_poll_timeout with delay_us=0 and a condition that is never fulfilled, the CPU busy-waits for prolonged time and the timeout triggers only with a massive delay causing a CPU stall. This happens due to a huge underestimation of wall clock time in poll_timeout_us_atomic. Commit 7349a69cf312 ("iopoll: Do not use timekeeping in read_poll_timeout_atomic()") changed the behavior to no longer use ktime_get at the expense of underestimation of wall clock time which appears to be very large for delay_us=0. Instead of timing out after approximately XILINX_DMA_LOOP_COUNT microseconds, the timeout takes XILINX_DMA_LOOP_COUNT * 1000 * (time that the overhead of the for loop in poll_timeout_us_atomic takes) which is in the range of several minutes for XILINX_DMA_LOOP_COUNT=1000000. Fix this by using a non-zero value for delay_us. Use delay_us=10 to keep the delay in the hot path of starting DMA transfers minimal but still avoid CPU stalls in case of unexpected hardware failures. One-off measurement with delay_us=0 causes the cpu to busy wait around 7 minutes in the timeout case. After applying this patch with delay_us=10 the measured timeout was 1053428 microseconds which is roughly equivalent to the expected 1000000 microseconds specified in XILINX_DMA_LOOP_COUNT. Add a constant XILINX_DMA_POLL_DELAY_US for delay_us value.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2026-09-17
Last modified 2026-09-17
Patch available
Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.6 and later are affected. Fixed in 7.2.6, 7.3-rc1 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 4.6
Fixed in
✓ 7.2.6 7.2.x ✓ 7.3-rc1

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2026-93168?

    CVE-2026-93168 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.6 onward and has been patched in 7.2.6 and 7.3-rc1. CVE-2026-93168 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-93168?

    Yes. CVE-2026-93168 has been patched. Fixed versions include 7.2.6 and 7.3-rc1. If you are running Linux kernel 4.6 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2026-93168 actively exploited?

    No. CVE-2026-93168 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.