Use-after-free in Linux kernel i915 intel_engine_park_heartbeat
CVE-2026-31656 is a race-condition vulnerability in the Linux kernel's drm/i915/gt subsystem, specifically involving heartbeat handling in intel_engine_park_heartbeat(). The flaw arises because the heartbeat worker and intel_engine_park_heartbeat() can concurrently release the same engine->heartbeat.systole request. In the vulnerable logic, the heartbeat worker reads engine->heartbeat.systole and later clears the pointer in a separate, non-atomic step after calling i915_request_put(). If, on another CPU, request retirement drops the engine wakeref to zero and triggers __engine_park() -> intel_engine_park_heartbeat(), and the heartbeat timer is still pending, intel_engine_park_heartbeat() may observe the stale non-NULL systole pointer and call i915_request_put() on the same request a second time. This can cause a refcount underflow and result in a use-after-free condition. The upstream fix replaces the separate read-and-clear operations with atomic xchg() in both racing paths so only one caller can obtain and release the pointer.
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